Return to Hogwarts: A NG Story
by Gothicthundra
Summary: Rewrite of MoH. Just because Voldermort is gone doesn't mean there isn't still danger in the wizarding world, far from it. Now new dangers, mysteries, and darkness awaits a new generations. Follow Albus Potter, Scorpius Malfoy, and Rose Weasley through their first year at Hogwarts School. What dangers lurk in hidden corridors and what evil waits in the dark of the forest. RnR.
1. New Friends and Old Rivals

So this is a complete rewrite of my original Mysteries of Hogwarts. This time I'm writing it for my own sanity and how I envisioned the future. Now just a warning, there will be love triangles, insanity, adventure… and unavoidable OCs… Unavoidable because lets be real you think they're the only couples to have children. Also for Mrs. Malfoy, I do apologize but before Astoria was ever mentioned I had written the previous story with her having a different name, it's staying. Feel free to replace it mentally with Astoria or your own OCs name if you'd like.

So please read and review, even if you're unhappy, that's okay…. I still welcome them.

**Return to Hogwarts: A NG Story**

**Chapter 1**

**New Friends and Old Rivals**

Albus walked down the halls of the Hogwarts Express in deep thought. He knew he should be looking for a compartment for he and Rose, but his mind was mulling over what his father and brother had said. He heard his cousin give an annoyed sigh, he smiled, he wanted to turn around and tell her she sounded like her mother, but he looked to see a nearly empty compartment. There was only one other person in it, staring out the window. He swallowed hard and tried to bite back his nerves, he hated how he got around unfamiliar people, but he was going to push past it. He was not going to be in Slytherin… He just wasn't. He opened the door.

"Ohm… Hi, m-may we join you?" asked Albus, he nearly kicked himself for his stutter and gave a hopeful smile, there was a long pause.

"Sure," said the boy not looking from the window, Albus recognized him from the platform.

"Scorpius, right?" asked Rose as she went to shove her trunk in the upper compartment, "I'm Rose Weasley."

"And I'm Albus, Albus Potter," smiled Albus quickly as he looked at the blonde boy.

The boy turned from his the window slowly; he looked like he was questioning their motives in talking to him. Albus almost laughed at his expressive face, his blue eyes fell on Albus for a moment before deciding to answer for what seemed like ages. He sighed before finally answering over the commotion Rose was causing with both their trunks.

"I know who you are, hard not to," he gave Rose's fire red hair a brief look.

"Yes?" she snapped, Albus cringed, hoping she didn't take offense, she was always touchy about her bushy hair, that and her large front teeth.

"Did you need help?" asked Scorpius casually, though Albus suspected that's not what he was going to say, but shrugged it off.

"… No thank you," said Rose, taken a back, as she gave the trunk another shove and it fell into place.

"Thanks Ro," smiled Albus as she sat down next to him; she was taller than him, so it only made sense she'd put the trunks up there, and he doubted Scorpius was much taller than him.

"Welcome," she smiled before reaching to take a book out of the bag she had at her side.

"Sooo.. Ohm, y-you're a first year too, right?" asked Albus as he turned to Scorpius who'd gone back to his window, "At least, that's what my brother said."

"Yes," he said coolly, he raised a brow, "James Potter?"

"Uh yeah, you've heard of him," smiled Albus happily, but his smile fell at Scorpius look of disgust.

"He has potions with my sister," said Scorpius with a scoff, "Yeah, I've heard of him."

"Slytherin?" asked Rose, looking up from her book, though her voice didn't sound like it was a question.

"As a matter of fact, yes," said Scorpius casually, he went back to the window.

"Your house too I suspect?" asked Rose, as if she already knew the answer.

"Don't know, like I said, I'm a first year as well," said Scorpius, "It doesn't really matter."

"Really, I expected you'd say….." Rose was cut off quickly.

"Just because my father's side of the family and my sister are, does not guarantee that I want to be in the same house," snapped Scorpius.

"Well, excuse me," grumbled Rose as she looked back at her book, "With an attitude like that I'd say you're headed there."

"Pardon?" asked Scorpius with an agitated look.

"I don't want to be in Slytherin.. personally," said Albus, his face fell, "but if I am, that's okay too."

"Aren't you a Potter AND a Weasley?" asked Scorpius, Albus nodded, "Then I don't think you have much to worry about."

"Didn't you just say your family was all in Slytherin? Because that would be a contradiction to your previous statement," said Rose, Scorpius glared, "Besides, Albus, James is just messing with you like normal. If anything, you'd be in Hufflepuff if you weren't in Gryffindor."

"Why Hufflepuff?" asked Albus in shock, this had never factored into his mind before.

"Now what's wrong with Hufflepuff?" asked Scorpius in a cold glare at Rose, "Are all houses but Gryffindor beneath you _Weasley_?"

"... Ohm… Q-quidditch, do you like Quidditch Scorpius," Albus saw the glare off between the two as if it was a beam of red light between them, "I do."

"What?" Scorpius looked away at Rose in confusion by the random change of topic.

"Oi, you lot, what are you doing?" the door slid open to reveal a thin face with messy dark red hair with wild freckles and thick black glasses, "I was saving you two a seat… oh hello there, hope you lot aren't getting too friendly in here."

"Hardly," rolled Scorpius eyes as he looked Rose, James' hazel eyes squinted.

"Well good.. I don't want…" James was cut off as another head slid into view; his hair was a fire red and he had a touch of freckles on his nose and right under his dark brown eyes.

"You harassing a bunch of first years, my dear cousin?" asked the boy with a smirk as he ruffled James' already messy hair.

"Hey Fred," beamed Rose, Albus smiled happily.

"Hey you two.. come on Jimmy, they found a compartment and they're making an attempt at friends with.. er?" Fred looked at Scorpius for a name, he opened his mouth.

"Malfoy," said James, giving Fred a nudge, his eyes went a little wide.

"Malfoy? Oh…" said Fred, "So this is Scorpius? You're Scorpius."

"Yes. Excuse me but was there some sort of newsletter about my arrival?" asked Scorpius in confusion, Albus snickered slightly.

"Nah, it's just your sister wouldn't shut up.." Fred was cut off by James.

"Per usual…" Fred cut James' possible insult off.

"About how her brother Scorpius was coming to Hogwarts this year…"

"Should be a newsletter warning though…"

"Glad to see you're getting acquainted…" Fred started pulling James from the compartment.

"Excuse you…"

"Be nice; make loads of friends you lot…"

"Except M…"

"We best be going, we have to meet up with Jordan and Thomas…"

"No we don't…"

"See you all at Hogwarts," smiled Fred as he dragged James off and out of sight.

"What… was that?" asked Scorpius, still confused by their mere arrival.

"My brother James and our cousin Fred," said Albus nervously, "So… what do your parents do?"

"Hmm.." Rose made a noise that Albus didn't exactly know what for.

"Why?" asked Scorpius, he seemed to share Albus' interest in Rose noise.

"Just making conversation. My dad's head of the Auror's Department and my Mom's a Quidditch and Sports Journalist for the Quibbler," Said Albus proudly, "And Rose's Mom is Head of Magical Law Enforcement and her Dad's an Auror too… he also helps to run Weasley Wizard Wheezes."

"I can speak on my own thank you," Rose began but Scorpius made the same scoffing noise Rose had made a few moments prior, "What?"

"Nothing, I was just agreeing with you," said Scorpius with a small smirk, "By the way my Father works in the Department of Mysteries. My Mother doesn't work. Anything else?"

"You don't talk much, do you?" asked Albus with a smile, he was glad to find someone to talk too who was just as awkward at making conversations as he was.

"I'd rather not socialize thank you. I'm just going to school for an education. I don't plan on making friends." said Scorpius, still looking out the window, his eyes glanced downwards.

"Why not?" asked Scorpius.

"Al, will you just leave him alone," said Rose getting out a new book.

"I want to know why he doesn't want friends?" asked Albus, he was confused, making friends outside his families close connected one was exactly what he was looking forward to most.

"It's not that I don't want friends." said Scorpius, who then fell silent and looked out the window again.

"Do you want to be friends?" asked Albus, hopefully.

"What?" asked Scorpius in shock.

"You seem nice, I'd like to be your friend, if you want to be mine." said Albus.

"How did you get that idea?" asked Rose, with wide eyes.

"He hasn't told me to bug off or insult me." said Albus, "He just seems to be in a bad mood."

"I'd like to be friends." said Scorpius quietly and shyly.

"Great!" said Albus, he felt his nerves practically fall away.

As the train ride continued through the country side and Rose had practically bought out the trolley, it had started to rain. Most of the conversations had been Rose and Albus talking about Hogwarts, but Scorpius had chimed in on a few of the discussions. Albus had noticed that his declaration of friends to Scorpius had not lessened the hostility between his cousin and new friend, actually he wondered if had spurred the current debate about Quidditch games effecting friendships whilst on opposing teams.

"Sometimes people have a hard time distinguishing a loss on a team for their friendships, you know. I've heard lots of stories from our family. It can destroy friendships," asked Rose as she took a bite of a liquorish wand, the last part seemed hopeful.

"It's only an issue if you're the losing team," said Scorpius as he opened up a chocolate frog.

"Also, what if your routing for the same house," said Albus as he picked up the Chocolate Frog card before smiling and tossing it too Rose, "Uncle Ron."

"Thanks," smiled Rose, she looked at Scorpius, "Collecting?"

"I have three already of him," said Scorpius as he looked at Albus' wrist watch.

"Really?" asked Rose as she put the card in her bag, "I didn't think… well."

"What, you'd think my father would allow me to only collect the cards of people he liked?" asked Scorpius, though his smirk was bordering on a smile, "Then I wouldn't have many cards, then. Hard to like people you'd never met."

"This is true, and you'd have an incomplete collection," said Rose with a nod.

"It's my goal to have enough doubles to decorate an entire wall of my bedroom with them," said Scorpius with a proud look on his face that faded and his cheeks slightly pinked, "You know, I think it'd be interesting."

"Agreed," smiled Albus, "Rose has most of her walls covered in photos, it drives my aunt crazy."

"That's because my bedroom walls are still a horrible shade of pink from what I was a little girl, and my parents refuse to repaint it," said Rose in sight disgust, "They're convinced I'll grow to like it again."

"I'll trade you walls," scoffed Scorpius, "Mine's an opal color, I don't know what it was intended to be… it's just shiny."

"Opal?" Albus began to open his mouth to inquire, but he was cut off by the compartment door opening again.

"Uhn," groaned Scorpius whose face fell into a forced smile.

Albus looked in the doorway and knew instantly that it was Scorpius' sister. They shared very similar features and it was much easier to pin them as sibling versus he and James. She was thin like Scorpius and they had the same fair skin and silver blonder hair. Her nose twitched as her face fell into one of distain; they had the same upturned nose, though hers might have been a little more simply based on her demeanor. Her chin was more pointed than her brothers and her eyes were a slate gray that contrasted with Scorpius' blue ones. Albus knew she was in Slytherin, but it wasn't hard to figure out if he hadn't. She'd already changed into her robes. Albus glanced at Rose who seemed to be admiring how straight and regulated the older girl wore her uniform.

"Scorpius, I said Compartment Six, this is well passed that," her voice had a bored sound to it, more like she wasn't upset as she was more slightly inconvenienced.

"There was a whole bunch of girl's in there, so I found my own," said Scorpius, indicating to the compartment.

"You'd much rather sit by… others… rather than your own sister?" her voice wasn't as bored now, more a slight tone of outrage to her voice, Albus saw her glance at Rose.

"I'm making friends," said Scorpius, Rose's brow Rose and Albus smiled and waved.

"I'm Albus Potter," smiled Albus giving her a wave.

"I figured," she gave Scorpius a look that Albus recognized as a silent argument between siblings; he often had those with Lily rather than James who was always vocal about his anger.

"We we're talking, I'm sure your friends are missing you," smiled Scorpius, obviously attempting to get the elder to leave.

"I can take a hint, you better get dressed, we'll be there in exactly fifteen minutes," said his sister with a heavy sigh before singing around in a flow of long hair as she walked down the hall.

"She's pleasant," said Rose with an eye roll as she began putting away her things.

"Actually, for Nancy.. that was," said Scorpius as he got up and pulled out some clothes out of a bag.

"Nancy? Is that short for a longer name like Scorpius?" asked Albus as he began to grab his things.

"If I answered that… I doubt I'd even make it to the sorting hat," said Scorpius with a small smile.

It wasn't long before the train finally came to a halt and Scorpius helped to get the trunks off the top shelf. Albus felt a little nervous, he knew how his brother talked about other houses, especially Slytherin. He'd enjoyed talking to Scorpius, and he was worried that if they we're in separate houses it null his new friendship. Rose seemed to be thinking along the same lines by the looks of satisfaction on her face as they began walking down the hall. Albus glanced behind him to see Scorpius with his head down as they heard a few people whisper. Albus wrinkled his nose in confusion but decided to watch where he was walking as a couple of fourth year Hufflepuff's rough housing nearly knocked him over.

"Cauldwell! Both of you knock it off and pay attention to where your walking!" came a girl's voice from farther behind them, one of the prefects directing traffic.

Albus looked back and gave a small wave to the Hufflepuff prefect with curly blonde hair. Albus climbed off the train's steps after Rose, who was cheerfully pulling her trunk behind her. She glanced back at Scorpius and Albus talking briefly and felt annoyed very quickly. She sighed; leave it to Albus to be friends with someone they weren't supposed too. Her mom had pretty much told her to ignore her dad's advice, but after spending a few hours with Scorpius, she'd be perfectly content not to have to deal with him. She smiled as she saw Hagrid bellowing for first years to come towards him.

"Hi Hagrid," smiled Albus as they hauled over towards the massive form.

"Holy..." Scorpius muttered looking up at the half giant in shock.

"Ohm, Scorpius. No matter what house either of us are in, we're still friends, okay?" said Albus, more for his own reassurance.

"Yes." said Scorpius, still in shock at Hagrid's size, "Definitely."

"Ello Hagrid," said Rose cheerfully, as Hagrid's wild mane and warm eyes looked down happily at them.

"Well, 'ello Rosie, Albus. Safe travels I hope, looking forward to school," beamed Hagrid, his eyes went wide as he saw Scorpius staring up at him in curiocity, "Oi, you must be Malfoys! Look just like 'em."

"Ohm, hello," said Scorpius, nervously.

"We met on the train," said Albus happily, "We're friends."

"Oh blimey. This is a 'ight to see," said Hagrid, with a shocked smile, "But I'm glad to here. Right, we should get going to the boats. First Years! Over here!"

"Wow," muttered Scorpius, "He's massive… What's he do?"

"He's Care of Magical Creatures teacher and Keeper of Grounds and Keys," said Rose smugly as they headed towards boats near the lake's dock.

"Four to a boat, please. No pushin' now, come on," said Hagrid as a few other first years playfully tumbled near the edge and nearly fell in, "Already? Why don't you three head on over to that one."

"Come on Scorpius," said an excited Albus jumping in the boat beside what must have been Hagrid's, "I wonder if we'll see the Giant Squid."

"Okay," said Scorpius quietly, who stopped and helped Rose in.

"Thanks," she hesitated before taking the hand he was offering to get in, '_Curious…'_

The eager first years happily approached the castle, they sky was dark when they reached the other side. Poor Albus was more nervous than he was before now that the edge was in sight. He didn't want to be in Slytherin, but then he didn't want to be in a different house than Scorpius. He was more confused than nervous, actually. Scorpius was still thinking about what had happened on the train, why would Albus Potter, son of Harry Potter, want to be friends with him?

_'My dad was always mean to his,'_ thought Scorpius in disbelief, he'd remembered his dad telling him how much an idiot he'd been in school.

Albus was happy he had made a friend on his own, who wasn't just a blood-relative or family friend's child. He was even happy that Scorpius hadn't made fun of his name and there had been no awkward questions about his family. Still, to him, making a friend of his own without anything like that was an amazing accomplishment… he wasn't like the rest of his family. James was cunning and witty; even when he was mischievous he still made friends easily. Lilly was sweet and likeable; though sometimes a little rambunctious, she had no trouble talking around new people. He was shy and had a problem with talking at the wrong time and place. The Albus, he wasn't anything like his father; not brave and valiant, and no one's hero. Nor was he like his mother who was smart and talented. He was shy and stuttered sometimes and hid when he was scared.

"We're 'ere," said Hagrid as the boats gave a slight jolt as they reached the dock.

As they entered the grounds and began walking up the stairs, they barely avoided some water balloons being flung at them by Peeves the poltergeist. Albus noticed a thicker boy glaring at him; he thought he heard someone call him Goyle or something, but wasn't really paying attention. A man walked out of the doors to greet them cheerfully. He was tall and nowhere near pudgy as he once had been. He had rather neat dark brown hair and amber eyes, his round face was very welcoming.

"Hello first years, I am Professor Longbottom," said Neville happily and ignored some snickers, "When you walk through these doors you'll see four tables, but before you join your classmates... You will be sorted by the sorting hat where it best thinks you should be. Now follow me."

"Remember, no matter what house," said Scorpius, who was shocked at his own words.

"Yes, no matter what house," said Albus as he glanced James and Fred whispering with some of their friends, he swallowed hard.

"Good," sighed Scorpius as he glanced his sister and her friends on the other side of the great hall, she gave him a confident smile.

He sighed and looked at the hat sitting upon the stool, what house would he be in. Scorpius was unlike his father; Draco had been arrogant and his main focus in life was just to be better than everyone. Though his father had been smart, and Scorpius knew he wasn't unintelligent. His sister often said he was more like their mother than anything, but she was much bolder than he was. Nancy had taken a lot after their father a great deal more than their mother; proud, smart, attention seeking, and bold. Scorpius was quiet and pretty shy most of the time, he didn't like conflict. He really didn't like getting people mad, but sometimes it just happened, he didn't know when to stop talking when he started. He supposed this was mostly due to having sisters, often forgetting when to stop talking but trying to stop the fighting at the same time. He almost leapt out of skin when he heard his name; he'd been so deep in thought he'd forgotten about the sorting. He walked up to the stool and sat down nervously, his heart was racing as the hat covered his eyes.

"Oh? Another Malfoy. Well I see now. You're not much like your father at all. Nope, not at all.. Hmm.. Your mind seems to show me that you are a bit of a sore thumb in your family; always the rebel in a way, ay. You have a thirst to prove yourself however, but you're loyal. Smart too. Well let's see, better be... well yes, it'll be perfect. GRYFFINDOR!" yelled the sorting hat.

Scorpius almost fell off the stool in shock; he saw Professor Longbottom's shock dwindle on his face before smiling. The whole entire castle was silent until some claps came for the Gryffindor table rang. He glanced at where his sister sat for a brief moment before practically running to the Gryffindor table. Her face was one of mixed horror and, appropriately, shock. He just wanted to sit there; his father was going to go crazy when they heard this, and from the look on his sister's face, his family would know before morning. The only Malfoy to EVER be in Gryffindor! He walked and half ran to the table and nervously looked for a seat, he was shocked when James actually made room for him. There was a look of smug amusement on his face as he glanced towards the other side of the hall.

"Whoa," said Rose in shock, "I can't wait to tell dad this. He's going to lose it…. Brilliant."

"Great, I'm up," said Albus with shock, he wanted to be in Gryffindor so bad; he crossed his fingers as the hat was placed on his head.

"Ahh... Potter? Let's see. How strange, you seem so timid and shy but you have bravery deep within. Hmm, how strange, but I see where you want to go, and perhaps it'll help you find your strength. Maybe Slytherin… hmm. Very hard, no not Slytherin, but where shall I put you," said the sorting hat.

"Please, Gryffindor, please," thought Albus, he really wanted to be there.

"Oh, I see. Choosy are we, very well GRYFFINDOR!" said the hat and applause greeted the group, Albus ran to sit next to Scorpius.

"Brilliant! Where in the same house!" said and excited Albus, which Scorpius smiled in response, though not as boldly as Albus.

"Rose is up," interrupted James.

"Okay, your fine," she smiled to herself as she sat on the stool and the hat flocked over her eyes.

"Well now! Definitely smart. Ahh a Granger and a Weasley. Witt, brains, bravery, and quick tongue. Hmmm, where to put you. Well my dear, that's easy. How about GRYFFINDOR!" yelled the sorting hat.

"Oh this is going to be great!" yelled Albus happily as she sat on other side of him, "Think about it!"

"My parents are going to pass a cow," said Scorpius with a smile, "Yours?"

"Well, It's not like we've created some weird vortex or blown up the castle," said Albus in defense.

"To our parents, we might as well have," said Rose, "My Dad's going to flip when he hears Malfoy is in the same house as us."

"With you two? Those can all happen," muttered Fred as he shook his head, "I'm pretty sure the three of you might just put that to an actual test. Haven't properly introduced myself, Fred Weasley. Cousins, with this lot."

"Well, honestly going to say I'm actually a little more satisfied to say this than I should be," smirked James, "Welcome to Gryffindor Malfoy."

"I can't wait for class tomorrow," said Rose cheerfully, completely engrossed in what possibilities her first day of class might be.

"Prepare yourself to hear that phrase over and over again," said Albus in a whisper, Scorpius really didn't get it, but as Rose started listing off their first classes and a little about them, he thought he might.

"Noted," said Scorpius as he glanced over to where his sister had once been sitting, he grimaced, he knew exactly what she was doing, "I wonder if I should even bother writing my parents about this, looks like they'll know within the hour."

**TO BE CONTINUED**

I'm keeping the original Mysteries of Hogwarts up, because there's going to be a lot of changes to this compared to the other.


	2. So it Begins

Thank you  LinaRush for your review, I really appreciated it.

**Return to Hogwarts**

**Chapter 2**

**So it Begins**

Scorpius lay in bed the next morning without opening his eyes. He was dreading the day and what it would bring. He knew what waiting him down in the great hall would be a letter if not more; his sister's angry glares if not intrusive disappointed speech she had probably ran through a hundred times last night. He had heard most of his fellows leave and head down the hall a while ago, but he could hear Albus getting ready.

"Wake up!" said Albus as his head peered through the curtain, his big green eyes way too awake for the hour, "We're going to miss breakfast."

"You go," groaned Scorpius as he turned around to face his pillow.

"Don't you eat breakfast at home?" asked Albus, mentally thinking of Krecher's delicious Apple Cakes.

"It's not that," sighed Scorpius as the groan in his stomach edged him to go with Albus, "It's just… I know I am going to get some disappointed letters… AND the longer I avoid my sister, the less intense one of her speeches will be."

"Don't be so dramatic. So what, they'll be a bit moody, come on," Albus pulled on his robes and gave Scorpius foot a small yank, "If I'm not down there, I won't hear the end of it."

"Good for you. If I got down there, I won't hear the end of it," grumbled Scorpius.

"Don't be such a ruffled owl, let's go," sighed Albus and Scorpius simple flopped even more against his pillow, "It won't be that bad, James gives me loads of disappointed speeches… though his are mostly for when I don't cover for him when he's doing something he shouldn't."

"Do you even know what a Howler is?" asked Scorpius in fear.

"Yeah, it's a letter that yells at you. Come on." said Albus, as he began to tug at Scorpius' leg, "I doubt they'll send you a howler."

"I am not going to breakfast. You'll have to drag me out." said Scorpius proudly, convinced Albus would just give up.

"Okay," said Albus moving towards him; Scorpius jumped as Albus grabbed both his ankles and began to drag him off the bed.

After five minutes of arguing and a bump forming on their heads from a collision they had made, the two finally made their way to breakfast. Rose had books everywhere around her, if it wasn't for her wild mane of red hair, no one could have seen her. Rose resembled Hermione a great deal, except for her bushy hair was red and she had light freckles. Albus smirked as he saw Rose with the books, his Uncle Ron often affectionately called these 'Hermione Moments.' The two sat down and exchanged pleasant hellos when the mail came. A little white owl delivered a letter to Rose, who glanced at it a second before putting her books down and tarring it open franticly. Albus pulled out his own letter as a white horned owl flew to him. He took the letter from it and gave the bird the one he held. Scorpius was mentally in distress as a black owl with silver under feathers flew towards him. A black envelope with a green seal flew in front of him.

"Is it a howler?" asked Albus, leaning into Scorpius to look at it better.

"No," said Scorpius in relief.

"Well, open it." said Rose, casually as she read her own very long letter.

"Okay," said Scorpius as he did, there was bright green bold letters and then small writing that was elegant.

_Dear Scorpius,_

**HOW ONE EARTH COULD YOU LAND YOURSELF IN...**

_Honey, we are very proud of you, even if you're in Gryffindor._

**WE ARE? HOW CAN YOU BEFRIEND THAT...**

_I am so glad you're making friends, I'm sure Albus and Rose are lovely people._

**STOP IT! NO, HOW COULD YOU WIND UP IN GRYFFINDOR, YOU BELONG IN SLYTHERIN.**

_Shut up Draco. Honey, Grandma 'Cissa is very proud of you. I flewed her right after I go your letter_.

**SHE IS? MY OWN MOTHER. LISTEN SCORPIUS, STAY AWAY FROM...**

_The forbidden forest. Stay out of trouble, love. We are so very proud of you._

_Love,_

_Mother and Father._

"That wasn't bad at all," said Scorpius relieved, until he looked up to see a certain blonde Slytherin headed their way, "Spoke to soon."

"Your mother seems nice," said Rose, unaware of the third year who was closing in behind her with an annoyed look at Scorpius.

"She can be when you don't get her angry," said Scorpius calmly, "Oh dear."

"Good morning, Scorpius," said Nancy, Scorpius could see she was trying not to yell at him, "I see you wrote mother and father last night."

"Yeah, I'm surprised you didn't," smiled Scorpius trying to thank her without saying anything.

"No, I did however right the girls… Anyway, I was just coming over to say… Have a good day in class. I would also like it if we had breakfast together once in a while…" she glanced at Albus and Rose, "Just us siblings."

"Ohm, sure," Scorpius was confused by what was happening, he noticed his sister messing with her own perfectly straight hair as she kept glancing at Rose's wild hair.

"Good…" she stopped speaking as some Gryffindor's came in; she left without so much as a word.

"Morning you lot," beamed Fred as he flopped next to Rose, "You know, there's a library for that."

"I personally find it very rude, Ro…" smiled James, "Here I was getting ready to eat and you made me realize, I will have to be reading in a short hour."

"Wait, you can read, you never told me this," said Fred in shock, "Oi, who's your divination teacher by the way. I lucked out and got Firenze last year."

"Trelawney," sighed James, "And with Slytherin too."

"Bad way to start the morning," Fred looked at Scorpius, "No offense, kid."

"No, it's fine. I'm in Gryffindor remember," said Scorpius as he tore away from a conversation about Albus, Rose, and his first class; Herbology.

"I'm still not over the shock," said James, he laughed, "Oh but your sister's face. Priceless."

"Morning, budge over, I'm not sitting with Vicky," Scorpius looked to the other side of Albus where the voice came from, instead of asking James what he meant.

"Morning Dom, why are you avoiding Victorie?" asked Rose, looking at a second year Gryffindor girl with short red hair and her uniform worn anyway but perfectly.

"She still thinks I'm a first year, she's all worried about my classes and then had the mind to tell me that my uniform is being worn improperly, pfft, like I didn't know," said Dom with a roll of her eyes.

"Oh Dom, this is Scorpius. Scorpius this is our cousin Dominique," said Albus, "But she prefers Dom."

"Well hello," smiled Don, he blue eyes alight with seeing a new face, Scorpius smiled and shook her hand that was offered.

"Nice to meet you," Scorpius felt giddy for some reason as he looked at her, he didn't know why and Fred nudged him slightly.

"Oi, if you feel a bit light headed, it's no big deal. She's part Viela," said Fred, Scorpius blinked, "Trust me Jim and I have had to explain it to a lot of blokes, I recognized the confused look in your eyes."

"Your young enough that by this time next year, it won't have any effect on you," said James, "Though I wish it had been the same when it came to Victorie. We lost a lot of good friends cause they wouldn't stop talking about her."

"Surprised she's not at breakfast, must be doing Head Girl rounds," shrugged Rose, looking around.

"Trust me, she was here. She probably went to the Owlry to send out a letter to Teddy," shrugged Dom casually.

"That is disgusting," said James in horror.

"Mate, they're not related," sighed Fred, Scorpius got the feeling that this was a more recent argument.

"Listen, Victorie is our cousin and I grew up thinking Teddy was my brother and even though he's not, I still consider him that. So in my eyes, it is disgusting and wrong," cringed James as he put down his fork, "And now I've lost my appetite."

"Fantastic! Now I know how to keep you away from my favorite foods at the Summer Family Picnic… and Christmas," beamed Fred happily.

"Good morning," came a voice from the Ravenclaw table next to them, Scorpius looked up thinking there might be another cousin or sibling, but this girl looked nothing like any of them.

"Hey," said Albus as Rose waved.

The girl came over, she seemed to be a second year. Her hair was waist length and a sandy brown that had light curls at the bottom. Her hair was kind of scraggly and out of control. She was rather tall for a second year and her face was round shaped with large dream like amber eyes. She wore a large necklace with many charms around her neck with large bell earrings that jingled when she ran over to them.

"So are you excited for your first day?" asked the girl cheerfully as she sat down.

"Of course," said Rose in quick response.

"I was hoping you'd be in Ravenclaw," said the girl to Rose, "But oh well. You have Herbology next right?"

"Yes," responded Albus, "Oh this is Scorpius."

"Hello," said Scorpius with a small smile as she jingled to look in his direction.

"I'm Serendipity Longbottom, it's nice to meet you. You can call me Seri," she said with a large smile.

"Pleased to meet you," he said calmly, he was fascinated by the odd assortment of necklaces the girl wore.

"Well I'd love to talk to you all more, but I must get my books for potions and I have to make sure there's no Nargles," she said getting up.

"Are the bells to ward them off?" asked Albus quickly.

"No, they were just very pretty," smiled Seri as she headed out of the great hall.

"Nargles?" asked Scorpius.

"Here you go," said Albus pulling out a magazine and opening to a page on Nargles.

"The Quibbler?" asked Scorpius in annoyance.

"Her mom's the editor," said Rose, "My mom says to just humor her with it."

"I believe in Nargles," said Albus with a pout.

"You would," said James as he got up.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Albus in a hurt voice.

"We have to get to class, come on," said Rose grabbing her books as she noticed no one else was in the hall.

The three of them headed outside and towards the green house; making it just in time. Neville stood there calmly and gave them a reprimanding look. Scorpius shrugged it off, but Rose and Albus looked in apology at Neville. He smiled and turned to stand in front of the entire class. It was a class of first year Gryffindor's and Hufflepuff's.

"Good morning class!" and the lesson began.

It wasn't a bad lesson at all. In fact it was easy; they had an essay about Flutter by Bushes, but only a foot of scroll. Most of the lesson had been on safety and basic plant knowledge. Which had seemed pretty much common sense. Until Scorpius had glanced around the class and noticed a few people held shocked looks on their face. The three of them we're the last to leave simply because Scorpius was waiting on Albus who like Rose had stopped to talk to Neville.

"In case James forgot, Mom and Dad send their love," smiled Albus as they headed towards the door.

"Mine too," smiled Rose as the finally left with Neville telling them thank you.

Next they had Flying lessons, on which both Scorpius and Albus where excited. While Rose, who had her mother's flying talents, was not too thrilled. As they arrived at the grounds, they realized their lessons were with the first year Slytherin's. The same boy and his friends gave the three of them a dirty look, Scorpius simply looked away in agitation.

"Do you know him?" asked Rose quietly.

"Vincent Goyle, don't know a lot about him. But my dad warned me about him," said Scorpius with a shrug, "I'm just going to ignore him."

"Hullo, class. I'm Professor Wood. I'll be your flying instructor. We'll be doing simple things, such as hovering. Any questions?" asked Wood, no one spoke, "Alright. Got to the left of your broom and raise your hand straight above it, and sternly say 'Up.' Alright go ahead."

Scorpius' and Albus' where the first ones to go up, both laughed at each other. Rose was very much trying to get her's to respond, but it rolled and did nothing else. In fury she yelled at it rather harshly and if flew and hit her in the face. Albus and Scorpius, fought back laughter as they asked if she was all right, she just glared at the broom bitterly.

"Don't worry Rose, word has it your dad got a worst hit that resulted in a bruise when he tried." said Wood, encouragingly, go ahead and grab your broom.

The day went by smoothly for the first part. They were convinced the DADA teacher had it out for them though. She had taken twenty points from Gryffindor when Rose had asked a simple question. Professor Zabini did not seem to like them at all. They had all decided to talk to Hagrid about it later. The where heading up from dinner happily when something caught Rose's eye.

"Rose, what is it?" asked Albus.

"I thought I saw something by that doorway," said Rose pointing across the way.

"What do you think it was?" asked Scorpius.

"Nothing, probably a ghost," said Rose.

"Isn't that the bathroom, maybe it was just someone going to use the facilities," said Albus with a shrug.

"I'm surprised you know such a big word," smiled Scorpius, Albus rolled his eyes and smirked.

"Anyway, let's move on," said Rose scooting them up to the stair cases, "We have homework."

"Bit pushy aren't you Rose," joked another Gryffindor behind them.

Three students where behind them, one was a third year named Jillian Thomas, a fourth year named Collin Finnegan, and then a third year Hufflepuff named Michelle Finnegan who was Collin's sister. The group stopped and had a small chat on the steps, but they were interrupted fairly quickly. A Gryffindor prefect with long brown hair and gray eyes stood behind them and next to her was James, who looked like he'd been punched.

"Excuse me," she said calmly, "We'd all like t get to the tower sometimes today."

"Hello Lynn," said Albus.

"Hey Al," said Lynn happily, "I've been meaning to congratulate you and Rosie."

"What happened to you?" asked Scorpius to James, as Fred arrived behind them, all three looked a little dirty and weren't wearing their regular robes.

"Nicked by a bludger; he'll be fine though," said Fred, pushing James passed them.

"Oh this is Lynn Wood, she's the captain of the Quidditch team," said Rose, telling Scorpius.

"Nice to meet you. Wish I could talk a little more, but I really must be going," said Lynn cheerfully, "And you three, practice tomorrow."

"Sure thing," laughed Jillian Thomas as her and the two siblings headed off towards the tower.

"So... do you know everyone?" asked Scorpius with a sigh as they reached the portrait as well.

"Well we know Lynn because my dad is friends with her dad and mom. Her dad is Professor Wood, he used to be Quidditch Captain when my dad was playing. Then we know Collin, Michelle, and Jillian because our parents where friends with their parents. Same way we know Serendipity. We've known her dad our whole lives, he's like family to us. Then there's our cousins… Fred, Dominique, and Victoire; you haven't met her yet though…." said Albus quickly.

"She spends most her time writing love letters to Teddy," said Rose with a laugh, "Must drive James mad."

"Hagrid is my god father, that's how I know him. Teddy is like my adopted brother or cousin," said Albus.

"I'll never ask again," said Scorpius as he got his books out as they were now in the common room, he needed to stop this knowledge flow.

"So have you're talked to your sister today?" asked Rose, "I thought she'd have given you that speech you were worried about."

"Surprisingly no," Scorpius was suddenly reminded of when he had seen his sister in passing in the hall, "In fact, she didn't even say anything to me since this morning."

"She's probably just mad, I know James would have been," shrugged Albus, "Give it a couple of days." 

"It's just really weird, normally at home she won't leave me alone," said Scorpius, "Do you think she's avoiding me because I'm in Gryffindor?"

"Is that something she would do?" asked Albus, in curiosity.

"I don't think so; normally she would just huff and puff but just ignore it and pretend nothing happened," Scorpius opened his school book and became lost in thought.

"Hey Scorpius, isn't that your owl?" asked Rose as an owl sat impatiently at the window with a letter.

"Yeah it is," said Scorpius as he headed over to the window, who had to avoid two second years playing exploding snap to get there.

"Who's it from this late?" asked Rose casually, as Scorpius sat down with a letter.

"Sisters," said Scorpius as he opened it.

"Well that's just stupid, she could have just stopped to talk to you in the morning," said Albus in confusion.

"You have more than one sister?" asked Rose, choosing to ignore Albus.

"Three… well it's just a congratulation letter, followed by a lovely picture of a lion… who might be dead… dunno, depends on the mood they were in," sighed Scorpius as he folded a quick sketched lion picture and put it back in the envelope.

"Touching?" asked Rose, not sure what to say, "Hugo wrote me this morning, told me that he's upset he's got no one to play chess with except dad."

"Lily told my parents that she has decided not to talk to James and I," said Albus with a shrug, "she'll be over it next week. Just have breakfast with her."

"Yeah, sounds like a good idea," shrugged Scorpius looking up from the envelope, he noticed Rose had left their spots by the fire and was looking out the window.

"Rose, what are you looking at?" asked Albus in a muffle as his quill was in between his teeth.

"Nothing, I just saw… nothing," she looked away from the window quickly and grabbing her books, "It's getting late, so night."

"Good night," said Scorpius with a slight yawn.

"NigCKHAT!" Albus chocked as he got ink in his mouth, "Stop laughing…. Uhg!"

"I'm going to bed," snickered Scorpius, "Good luck with that."

"Uhck," groaned Albus as he made the decision that the next half hour would be devoted to lots of washing his mouth out.

As he came from doing just that a short while later, Scorpius had apparently taken his books up to their room already. He yawned and noticed the only ones still in the Common Room were a couple of seventh year girls who were talking about when the first Hogsmede might be. Albus headed up the stairs to the boys dormitory, but stopped as he looked out the window. There was a shimmer of light near the forest and for a split second he thought the figure had stopped to look back at him. He shook his head, he'd seen many ghosts before but like the one they'd seen earlier that day, there was something offsetting about this one. He felt a shiver up his spine and headed off to bed, wondering what tomorrow might bring.

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	3. Investigating Trouble

Thank you **ultima-owner **for your review! Nope, no Howler…. Yet.

**Chapter 3**

**Investigating Trouble**

Rose lay on her bed looking at the ceiling. Two days had passed since she has seen the 'ghost' by the bathroom. Something was unsettling about it. She'd seen lots of ghosts before, and Hogwarts was littered with them; but there was just something not right about the way this one made her feel. She wondered if the boys had the same feeling she did, she'd ask them at dinner. It was Saturday and rather late in the morning; usually she would have been up and downstairs an hour ago. She had tried to do some homework in her bed, but she was unfocused. She may have had her mother's intellect and ability to pick things up easily, but she also had her father's focus. She was one serious procrastinator, she mused at how her dad had told her stories of how pushy her mom had been with studies.

"So, are you just going to lay in bed all day?" came a voice from the door, Rose looked up to see Dominique leaning against the door frame; her robes put away for the weekend and her tom boy clothes had reappeared.

"It's Saturday, I plan on getting homework done early so I can relax tomorrow," said Rose casually.

"And this gets done how? You're eating candy and reading Witch Weekly," said Dominique with and eye roll as she plopped on her cousin's bed and grabbed some snacks.

"Excuse you?" said Rose in mock annoyance as she grabbed a chocolate frog.

"Your excused. It's Hogsmede weekend so I talked Vick into getting some stuff from Honeydukes, want anything? I can ask her before she leaves?" asked Dominique, "Oh by the way Albus and your cute new blonde friend have been waiting downstairs for an hour."

"Rose! Albus and Malfoy have been trying to get up the stairs three times now. I am really getting annoyed. I slipped the third time and I'm already late meeting Teddy at Hogsmede. Please control your boy," said Victoire, a little miffed as she peaked her head in the room, her long blonde strawberry blonde hair held in a loose braid and her freckled nose wrinkled in detest, though it didn't take from her vibrant beauty, "Please go see to them, I will not reprimand them again!"

"…Perhaps you could ask Fred or Jim to get stuff for you?" asked Dominique.

"Sorry, " said Rose, jumping up and running down the stairs, only to slide halfway down and plow into the two boys in question.

"There you are," said Scorpius in slight annoyance.

"You know that boys aren't allowed in the girl's dormitories, right?" yawned Dominique as she slid by them and got to her feet.

"You could have told us that the first time, instead of encouraging us," Scorpius glared at the second year.

"You were just too cute, it was a right riot to see you both slipping and sliding," laughed Dominique as she headed towards the portrait, Rose watched Scorpius confused face.

"How long did you stay up studying last night after we left?" asked Albus as he went to sit on the red couch, Rose rolled her eyes.

"Same time you two did. . . . I've just been thinking about that thing I saw," she said, pushing her cousin over and sitting down.

"We could go check it out," said Albus, "See what we find."

"Can we do it a little later? I would like to get some of our Defense Against the Dark Arts Essay over, she gave us enough to do," said Scorpius as he went back to his previously abandoned book.

"Okay. . . you have until lunch," said Rose, "Then we'll go down to that bathroom."

"That's in five minutes." said Scorpius, looking at a clock near the fireplace.

"12:30." she said, ignoring her mistake.

"Fine," said Scorpius, with a slight glare at Rose as they both came to the decision to work on their school work.

"Guys," said Albus nervously.

"What Albus?" asked Scorpius, not looking up from his book.

"I'm hungry," said Albus, his stomach growling on cue.

"You're always hungry." said a rather annoyed Rose looking up.

"This coming from the person who has a licorice wand in her pocket?" asked Scorpius casually, Rose glared at him and handed said candy to Albus.

"Thanks Rose….. but lunch is still down in the Great Hall?" asked Albus hopefully.

"Fine, let's go," sighed Rose as she put down her book, she herself was hungry, she just didn't want to admit it.

"You know what we should do?" asked Scorpius as he looked down sadly at his essay.

"What?" asked Albus, the licorice wand hanging from his mouth.

"We should go to the kitchens and get some food," said Scorpius, "That way we could work on our school work, grab some food, check out the bathroom, and then store some dry food for when you're hungry a few hours later."

"Do you know where the kitchen is?" asked Rose, her brow raised in curiosity.

"No... but I'm sure we could find out… Ask your brother or cousin," said Scorpius as he looked at Albus.

"Like he'd tell me." said Albus, with a slight pout, "He'd just laugh and tell me good luck."

"We could try," said Rose, "Fred might tell us… Or you know, Dom might know. "

The half hour passed and Scorpius was satisfied that he had gotten half his essay done and had talked Albus into doing four inches of his own. Rose had already finished, so she had decided to read her text book for DADA. As they packed up their stuff and headed to catch the last few minutes of lunch before they went to explore bathroom, they stopped by a drinking fountain and talked to Serendipity. Serendipity was wearing casual clothes, but they seemed to miss-match. Her hair was pulled up into two long pigtails with large baubles hanging from them and blue ribbons.

"Hello," she said cheerfully, Scorpius was still a little confused by Professor Longbottom's daughter, but Rose and Albus didn't even bat an eye.

"Hi." said all three at once, Scorpius a little less enthusiastic than Albus.

"I've been thinking..." said Serendipity, looking at the walls.

"Is that a good thing?" whispered Scorpius to Rose and Albus.

"Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was a wall in the school where every house was allowed to express themselves?" asked Serendipity as she indicated to no wall in particular, "The Quibbler did an article on Muggle expressionism and building art."

"Actually that's not a bad idea," said Sir Nicholas coming through the wall, "However, my dear, I don't think some students 'expressions' should be shared."

"Hello Sir Nicholas," said Serendipity casually.

"Hi, so you're Nearly Headless Nick?" said Albus with a wave; he had been told about him.

"Albus Severus, is it? I've heard young James and his friends discuss you and your friends. Nice to meet you." said Nick with a smile, as he gave a bow that seriously threatened to reveal why his name was Nearly Headless.

"Well, I'll leave you all, it was nice talking, " said Serendipity.

"Severus?" asked Scorpius in confusion, a brow raised, "As in Severus Snape?"

"Yes," smiled Albus proudly.

"My father told me about him, he was a professor and a family friend," said Scorpius, "Other than that I don't know much."

"Me neither," said Albus, "Hey I wonder if there's any records of him…"

"Okay, we'll add that to our list of 'To Do's'... but right now let's go get something to eat. Then we'll investigate the bathroom and THEN we'll look up Severus Snape. . . now let us go." said Rose, grabbing their arms and pulling them to the great hall, she was starving.

They got to the great hall as lunch was just starting to finish up and grabbed some of the sandwiches and snacks that still remained. Albus jumped as he felt his hair ruffled and looked up to see James and a bunch of his friends, apparently heading off to practice by the fact they were still not dirty. Albus gave a slight smile in annoyance as he took one of the apples and his friends headed off ahead of him.

"Afternoon little brother, cousin…. Malfoy," nodded James as he sat down, "Rumor has it, you three are inquiring about the kitchen whereabouts?"

"How did you…" Albus was cut off.

"My dear little, naive brother. You do realize I have eyes and ears all over this castle," laughed James with a smirk.

"…. You over heard us didn't you?" asked Scorpius, James glared at him.

"…. Yeah, I was lounging on the couch behind you three, so do you want to know where the kitchen is?" asked James giving another glare to Scorpius.

"You'll actually tell us?" asked Albus happily, Rose smiled.

"See Albus, I told you," she said proudly.

"Okay you three, it's located in the Dungeon's. All you have to do is go to the far end where there are no torches anymore. Once you reach that wall, all you have to say is _Potions Master. _It'll open right up," smirked James, they all looked behind him as they heard a clicking sound, Nancy stood with her arms crossed and glaring at him.

"Really Potter, trying to get your own brother bludgeoned… I'd like to say I'm shocked, but I know better," said Nancy bitterly, Albus looked at Scorpius' sister, if looks could kill, "That is nowhere near the kitchen and you know it."

"It's just a little fun, Malfoy. Perhaps you should learn what that is," said James with a scoff, "Besides, they won't get bludgeoned."

"You know exactly where they'll end up. A bunch of first year Gryffindors? Don't hold your breath on that account," she turned swiftly to look at the three of them, her long hair nearly smacking the eldest Potter, Rose thought it was intentional, "The Kitchen is located directly under the Great Hall. It's behind a picture of a large bowl of fruit, and you just have to tickle the pare. Do not anger the House Elves."

"Come on Malfoy, what's the fun and telling them outright, they'll never learn," James' attempt at making it into a light joke was ignored as Nancy walked around to the other side where Scorpius sat, James rolled his eyes and headed off towards the pitch most likely.

"Scorpius. It would suite you best, never to take any of James Potter's foolish advice, you'd all would end up in body bags before years end," snapped Nancy haughtily, "May I have a word with you."

"Of course, be right back," said Scorpius nervously as he got up to follow his sister out one of the doors of the Great Hall, "What is it?"

"Please Scorpius, do me a favor and be careful," sighed Nancy, he nodded, it was rare for his sister's voice to become one of concern rather than her normal bored tone, "I have no desire to make any visits to the Hospital Wing because that arrogant git told you lot something he deems humorous."

"I don't get it, where was he sending us?" asked Scorpius with a raised brow.

"Slytherin dungeon," she glared, "How that idiot got our password or even found out where it was is beyond me."

"Well… I'm sure one of your friends would have been in there," said Scorpius nervously, "Or a Prefect."

"Perhaps," She didn't make eye contact with him and she looked towards the dungeons, "But I don't want to test that theory…In fact I'd be much happier if you stayed away from the dungeons as much as possible, unless you have a class, okay."

"Yes, got it," smiled Scorpius, his heart sank remembering exactly where he was headed after lunch.

"Good. Now, I'm going to Hogsmede, did you want anything from Honeydukes?" asked Nancy, her concern shoved back behind her normal drawl.

Albus looked towards the doors where Scorpius and his sister had disappeared through. He pouted and thought about James, why was he always messing with him? He never pestered Lily and lied to her, though this might be because she was a girl and for a long time they both thought she was evil and didn't want to test the theory. Rose looked miffed about what had just accrued as the last of the students dwindled out of the Great Hall.

"Where do you think James was sending us?" asked Albus.

"What makes you think Malfoy told us the truth, what if she was sending us somewhere?" asked Rose bitterly, "Why would James put us in harm's way?"

"I don't know," Albus shrugged, "It was probably meant to be a joke, besides he didn't exactly deny it."

"I suppose so…" Rose trailed off in annoyance; they looked up to see Scorpius reentering the Great Hall.

"So what did you sister want?" asked Albus as he finished up his food.

"She asked me to stay away from the dungeons unless I need to go there," said Scorpius, "Maybe we should forget about the kitchens and just focus and go look at that bathroom."

"Pft, just because you sister told you not too, doesn't mean you have to listen to her," scoffed Rose, "She's your sister, not your mother. Hugo never listens to me."

"I listen to Lily," said Albus casually, Rose glared.

"Yes because it's very wise to take advice from nine year olds," snapped Rose, "Come on, let's go to the bathroom."

"Yes, because that sounds perfectly acceptable," said Scorpius with an eye roll as they got up to head to the first floor.

They arrived at the bathroom shortly after and Rose hesitantly strolled in, however Albus and Scorpius lingered back more. Scorpius wasn't fond of going into the girl's bathroom and Albus seemed to be hesitating simply out of uncertainty. Rose's hands reached out of the bathroom and yanked the two of them. The bathroom was colder than most and obviously lacked cleaning or upkeep. There was a low moaning sound that seemed to be muffled in water, but they couldn't see anyone in the empty stalls.

"Hello?" asked Rose quietly, Albus and Scorpius stood on either side of her looking into the stalls as well, the moaning stopped and then there was a loud splash.

"What do you want!" screamed a girl's voice and in an instant there hovered the ghost of a young girl, her eyes narrowed behind thick glasses, and looking positively hostile.

"Ohm, Hello," said Albus timidly, Scorpius nodded, "W-Who.. are you."

"I am Myrtle and this is my bathroom, and I don't….." She stopped her rant and squinted through her glasses at Albus and Scorpius.

"Your Moaning Myrtle?" asked Scorpius with a slight smile.

"Who?" asked Rose quietly, but not enough for Myrtle to glare at her.

"You must be Draco's, you look so much like him," smiled Myrtle as she flew right through Rose, causing her to shiver, to be barely a few inches from his nose, surprisingly Scorpius didn't seem all that worried, Rose and Albus shared a look of concern.

"I'm Scorpius," he smiled nervously, "My father told me about you."

"How is he? He hasn't come to visit me in ages," she floated around Scorpius, asking him multiple questions.

"I don't think she's what we saw," said Rose quietly to Albus.

"Let's ask her if any other ghost comes in here," said Albus quietly, Rose nodded.

"Excuse me, if you're done fawning over Scorpius, can we ask you a question?" asked Rose in slight annoyance.

"How's school, you know you can…. Excuse me?" snapped Myrtle looking at Rose in disdain.

"Sorry, we were just wondering if you're the only ghost who comes in here?" asked Albus quickly, "The other day, we thought we saw another ghost come in here… what?"

"Oh," she smiled, "I'd recognize those green eyes anywhere, your Albus."

"Ohm, yeah how'd you know?" asked Albus, his thought process thrown off.

"I overheard your brother talking about you once," said Myrtle cheerfully, she sighed dramatically, "Sadly, no one ever comes in here, it's very lonely."

"Perhaps it's the moaning," said Rose, with a sigh, "Your certain no one else comes in here?"

"No!" snapped Myrtle looking Rose up and down, she stood her ground, "Last person who came in here was a first year who had accidently wondered in ten years ago. There's no question who you must be in relation too."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Rose with a pout.

"With ratty hair like that and those terrible beaver teeth, hmpf, you better run along," said Myrtle bitterly, she gave a smile to Albus and Scorpius, "As I said, this is my bathroom and I'm the only one who comes in here…. But if you two ever want to visit, the door is always open."

Rose stomped out of the bathroom in dark mutters, causing Scorpius and Albus to share a worried look; they gave a slight smile to Myrtle and hurried out after her. Rose was positively ugly the rest of the afternoon. It was shortly after dinner by the time they could convince her to help them look up more about Severus Snape, however this turned into a full blown argument between Rose and Scorpius and how she believed they should just go ask their father's rather than waste time. Albus had managed to defuse this argument when he mentioned that they should have just asked Myrtle. He didn't really mean anything by it, but Rose had gone silent and the argument had ended.

"Fine!" snapped Rose as she tossed her book on the couch and stood up, Jillian Thomas who wasn't too far away looked up as the tall first year walked over to her.

"Jillian, do you happen to know where we might find out information on a former Professor?" she huffed, forcing a smile on her face, Jillian smirked.

"That depends; there are the archives in the library…." She seemed to go in deep thought.

"They were also a head master, and they probably died in the Battle of Hogwarts… Snape or something," sighed Rose.

"Oh him! My dad mentioned him once… hmm, well I'm surprised you haven't read your History of Hogwarts… the Memorial Room might have him. They have pictures and paintings from both wars as a reminder of who was lost," smiled Jillian, "I've never gone there myself; I think it'd be rather depressing."

"Where could we find this room?" asked Rose, ignoring the crack at her reading.

"I don't know where it is exactly… I think it's… Oi! Finnegan! Where's the Memorial Room!" yelled Jillian to where Collin Finnegan was most likely flirting with a blonde third year girl.

"Huh, it's passed the library!" yelled Collin who was going back to flirting until the blonde yelled back.

"It's on the third floor, take a left off the marble staircase and it's on your right just passed the ballerina painting… he's thinking of the blasted non-magic closet," said the girl with an eye roll.

"Thanks Hooper," replied Jillian, "There you go kid-o."

"Thanks," said Rose to know one in particular, she turned to go back to the boys, but they had been standing behind her, "Really!?"

"What?" asked Albus, looking around like something unusual had happened.

"Never mind, come on," grumbled Rose.

It wasn't too long before they'd reached the painting of the ballerinas. There wasn't a door, but more like a large opening in the wall. It wasn't as out in the open, so one might easily miss it if they were not aware of its location, but once you glimpsed it, you wouldn't be able to miss it. The hall was huge and brilliant in light. Candles floated like in the Great Hall and torches burned brilliant colors, most likely an attempt to make it more positive and cheerful. Pictures littered the wall and in the far end they could see hundreds of paintings; walking in one would assume it was just a grander wall of portraits. However knowing what it was seemed almost a grim reminder of all who were lost against Voldemort. There were a couple of other students in the hall, and by the dates it started from the first war and the deeper one got was aimed towards the Battle of Hogwarts.

"Wow," said Albus as he looked around in awe.

"Are these your grandparents?" asked Scorpius, who had walked towards a moving picture of a couple on a fall day, the women with long dark red hair like James and green eyes like Albus; the man looked a great deal like James to Scorpius, a thin face and straight nose.

"Yeah it is, my dad has pictures of them," smiled Albus, he was familiar with seeing this picture in the den at home.

"I think I found our great uncles," said Rose, Albus followed her to where two red haired men with a cheerful smile were next to a large picture of the Order of the Phoenix, "Fabian and Gideon… they were grandma's brothers."

Scorpius followed along the pictures on the opposite wall until he bumped into someone and turned to apologize. A second year Ravenclaw girl stood there, and gave a small smile. She had dark hair and small brown eyes. Scorpius felt his face become a little warm as he opened his mouth to apologize for not looking.

"Sorry," she smiled.

"Hello," said Albus as he crossed over to where Scorpius was.

"Hi," said the girl, "Did you need any help at all… I mean I come here often enough.." she smiled at Albus as Rose came over.

"I'm Rose Weasley," smiled Rose as she followed the two boys over, "You are."

"Mai Coroner," she responded politely, she looked at the boys expectedly.

"I'm Albus Potter and this is Scorpius Malfoy," said Albus in his normal cheerful tone, "Nice to meet you."

"Potter, as in Harry Potter?" asked the girl with wide eyes.

"Yeah, the same," said Albus with a blush, he tried to avoid moments like this, unlike his brother James who was more than happy to boast.

"Wow, that's amazing. You know, my mother went to school with him, I actually think they dated for a while in her sixth year," smiled Mai, her focus now completely turned on Albus, Rose looked over at Scorpius who was currently staring at the brunette girl, "Cho Chang."

"Oh, I think I heard my mom talk about her once," said Albus, remembering the name once being spoken but unsure when, "That's cool, ohm… hey you said that your pretty familiar with this room?"

"…Yes," she smiled slightly, but looked a little disheartened by the change in topic, "Did you need help?"

"We're looking for Severus Snape," said Rose.

"Oh, him," said Mai with her nose slightly squinted, "He's down at the end a few paintings from Albus Dumbledore. Good luck, he's always asleep.. which is probably a good thing."

"Thank you Mai," said Albus as he grabbed Scorpius and Rose and began to drag them to where Mai had indicated.

They walked down towards the end of the large hall passed some seventh years talking over a picture and joking. They were almost towards the end of the hall where the larger paintings were when someone jumped in front of them causing Rose to step back and Scorpius to yelp as Rose back stepped onto his foot and Albus jumped. Rose rolled her eyes and let out an annoyed sighed as she crossed her arms. Albus chuckled nervously and looked up to see Fred rolling his eyes.

"You lot are pretty jumpy, even for first years," chuckled the fourth year as he messed up Albus' hair, "What are you three doing? Exploring Hogwarts?"

"Trying too," smiled Rose, "What were you doing here?"

"Looking around, talking to some portraits," Fred smiled and looked at Scorpius, "What's up with Malfoy here?"

"Hmm, nothing," Scorpius seemed to snap out of whatever thought he'd gone into, Albus hadn't really noticed until now, "Just off in my own world."

"Right… well you kidos go back to what you were doing," he stopped from turning around, "Also, Albus?"

"Yeah Fred?" asked Albus as they started walking.

"Letting you know, Jim kind of told me what he did," said Fred, "You know he wasn't actually going to let you go down there and try it right, he planned on finding out when you were going to head down to where he told you the kitchen was and scare you."

"Thanks," said Albus with a smile, he felt a little better about it, but he still didn't know why he'd send him to a random wall in the dungeon.

"Now who's spacing out?" asked Scorpius as Albus felt his hand on his shoulder, causing him to stop walking right towards a wall.

They looked up to see a large painting of a friendly looking old man with a beard and very caring pale blue eyes. Albus Dumbledore was written on a gold oval plate under the frame. Albus recognized Dumbledore from a picture he'd seen on a Chocolate Frog card and his brilliant robes and extravagant beard had always been a focal point when someone in his family had described him.

"Well hello there," beamed Dumbledore as he looked down at the three of them, "Well I must presume your little Albus and you're Rose."

Albus nodded nervously, it was one thing to hear about someone, it was quite another to meet them…. even if it was only a painting. Rose on the other hand had never been one for nervousness or hesitance. Rose had no trouble talking to the painting of Albus Dumbledore as Scorpius and Albus hung back ever so slightly. If it was one wizard that you couldn't go without hearing about them it was Albus Dumbledore. He smiled over at the two of them.

"Don't tell me your shy?" laughed Dumbledore as he looked at his Potter namesake, "Well then, hello there Mr. Malfoy."

"Hello," smiled Scorpius nervously, "I'm Scorpius."

"Well, I do say, I do like the looks of this," the three looked between them in confusion as he stared from each one of them, "Well then, how can I help you children?"

"We ohm, w-we," Albus took a deep breath, '_He's a painting Albus, get a grip.'_

"We were actually wondering about Severus Snape?" asked Scorpius, apparently finding his voice.

"Well that's simple, Severus," Dumbledore looked down a few painting and the three followed their gaze.

There was a painting of a thin, pale man, sitting in a green armchair in front of a bookcase. He seemed to be sleeping, his thin face however was far too stiff to be asleep and his eyes seemed to squint as his name was called. His dark clothing and the monotone of the painting seemed to give him the appearance of a Vampire. Dumbledore made a click sound in annoyance.

"Severus, we all know you're just pretending to be asleep," said Dumbledore in mild annoyance, "There are three children who've come to see you, so why don't you at least acknowledge them."

"Professor Snape?" asked Albus as he and Scorpius moved closer towards the painting while Rose held back a little more and looked more interested in speaking to Dumbledore.

"Do you think he's really sleeping?" whispered Scorpius.

"What do you want?" asked Snape without opening his eyes.

"Nothing really, we just wanted…" Albus was cut off.

"Then I'll kindly ask you too…" he opened his eyes and sighed, as Rose came into view, "My god, they procreated.."

"Excuse me?" asked Rose bitterly, however Snape only just rolled his eyes.

"Okay. Potter, Weasley… Malfoy?" the sight of them hadn't fully shocked him until his eyes rested on the curious gaze of Scorpius, "I bet your parents are just positively thrilled."

"Actually…" Albus began happily, but was cut off by Scorpius.

"Sarcasm."

"Oh… well my dad's okay with it," said Albus, an attempt at sounding annoyed lost in his attempt to blow off the sarcasm.

"I'm sure," grumbled Snape, he seemed to glance between Rose and Scorpius, "So you're telling me, your families are just as happy as can be that you're all chums?"

"My father's not thrilled, but my mother says he's just trying to get attention," said Scorpius casually, "I tend to lean towards her consent."

"Uhmhmm," Rose seemed to be biting her lip and she and Scorpius glanced at each other; it was clear to all but Albus that the two had no real honest attempt at a friendship, more a non-verbal agreement to tolerate each other's presence, "My parents are just tickled pink."

"Yes, mine too," said Scorpius glancing at Rose, Snape raised a brow and scoffed.

"Well, good to see some things never really change," he looked at them, "Was there anything other than annoying me that you wanted?"

"You're very rude, you know," said Rose with her arms crossed, "I'm certain most paintings would love to have visitors."

"Then go bother them," said Snape bitterly.

"I fail to see why my father regarded him with respect," said Scorpius with a glare, "Or why your father named you after him."

"Well I can see why everyone told us to avoid him," said Rose, turning to look at them.

"Excuse me?" asked Snape in distain, "I could have sworn you were named after Dumbledore over there."

"My names Albus Severus," said Albus with a hopeful smile, Snape's brows raised.

"I am fully convinced now, that your father suffered severe brain damage as a child," said Snape a sad sigh, "I often wondered if he was a bit slow."

"Hey!" Albus snapped, "My dad is completely… fine."

"Because that sounded like a vote of confidence," said Scorpius in a whisper to Rose.

"Come on, let's just go," sniffed Rose, "We can go finish our school work in the Common Room, the only annoying painting there is the Fat Lady singing."

"See you around," said Mai as they walked passed where she was headed out of the hallways, Albus smiled.

"Good bye," said Scorpius quickly, and gave a lingered smiling glance at her.

"So are we… YEAHHG!" yelled Rose as slime and water balloons were dropped on them from a laughing Peeves as they walked down the first floor staircase.

"Aw, did I get the ickle wittle firsties all wet and gooey," laughed the poltergeist in glee.

"Gross," said Scorpius making a disgusted sound.

"Ew…" said Rose with a groan, though a sudden burst of shrieking laughter caused them to look to see a laughing Moaning Myrtle near Peeves.

"Good idea Four Eyes," sneered Peeves, Myrtle glared, she smiled at them.

"Sorry boys didn't mean to get you," she glared at Rose before disappearing through the wall of the bathroom; Rose stormed off without a word, Scorpius and Albus glanced at each other.

Albus knew better than to anger his cousin; she was normally very hostile when agitated. However she didn't join them later that evening when they were sitting by the fire. It was well after the common room was emptied and Scorpius was the only one up and finishing the last of his essays. He knew Albus had asked Victorie to check on Rose, but there had been no reports back. He yawned and looked at the time, curfew would be in the next few minutes and he supposed that most had returned to their dorms with their smuggled Weasley Wizard Wheezes items.

"Scorpius," he turned around quickly to see Rose looking over the back of the couch, her hair nearly matching the fire that was roaring behind her, "Is Albus asleep?"

"Uh, I think so, he went upstairs a while ago and he was starting to drift off on his homework before then," said Scorpius, he opened his mouth to say something but didn't.

"Would you mind going with me to the kitchens?" asked Rose as she looked at the clock, "I'm rather hungry and Victorie and Dominique ate the last of my candy when they were bothering me earlier."

"Uh," he bit his lip and looked at the time, "Now?"

"Would it be more acceptable to ask you after curfew?" asked Rose haughtily.

"Fine," said Scorpius as he put the last punctuations on his essay, "There all done."

"About time really, I finished mine ages ago," she sighed, but Scorpius could hear the slight amusement in her voice that made sure it wasn't an insult.

They walked down towards the dungeons quickly, not wanting to waste any time, however as they reached the dungeon area and realized they still had enough time to grab some food and make it back to the tower, they slowed down. Scorpius looked at Rose who had been silent save for a few bits of information she'd shared about a few statues she knew about. He looked at her; she seemed different, a lot less snarky.

"Rose, are you alright?" asked Scorpius as they walked down the steps and passed a group of people on the stairs.

"Do I really have beaver teeth, I mean my mother said she had the same over bite…" said Rose quickly, "I mean I know my hair is a lost cause but I know that…"

"You don't have beaver teeth…. There are yellow," he smirked, causing her to laugh slightly and give him a smile.

"So you agree with the hair being a lost cause," she retorted, "Well so is yours, it's all… sleek and boring."

"Did you just say my hair is boring, what's it supposed to do… Dance when someone looks at it?" asked Scorpius.

"I think there's a spell for that," said Rose, "Want me to try it?"

"No thanks, Albus got me in charms our third day when he turned my nose purple, it just got back to normal yesterday," said Scorpius, he looked around, "I think we went too far, we must have gone passed the portrait of fruit."

"Look it's that wall James was talking about," said Rose, it was in that moment that Scorpius remembered just how avid his sister had been about him not being near the dungeons and he grabbed Rose's wrist to turn her around.

"We need to go, that leads too…" Scorpius was cut off as a voice came from behind him.

"Our domain," they snapped around to see a gaggle of Slytherin's blocking their way, the one in front was Goyle.

"Now what are a bunch of Gryffindor cubs doing here at this hour?" asked a taller black boy with high cheekbones.

"We just made a wrong turn, if you'll excuse us," said Rose as she started leading she and Scorpius to go around them.

"Not so fast Weasley, do you think we'd just let a bunch of blood traitors walk on out when they so willingly walked into a snake pit," smirked Goyle as a few of the third years with them blocked their way.

"This isn't good," said Scorpius as he pulled Rose back away from the group before them, they were completely cornered.

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	4. Midnight Mischief

Thank you **WarriorsFan26** for your review.

Sorry for the Belated Update, it will be more consistent from here on out.

Please everyone RxR.

**Chapter 4**

**Midnight Mischief **

Rose felt more hostile than frightened by the group of Slytherin's, annoyance really. She pulled out her wand and glared at them, pushing Scorpius aside, because he'd gone and stood in front of her. However, she suddenly became very aware that she was grossly outnumbered by the sheer fact three of them pulled out their wand, but she kept her confidence.

"Please, I highly doubt you know more than making a few sparkles," said Rose, attempting to seem ill amused, she felt Scorpius yank at her sleeve.

"Those are not all first years Rose," his voice was barely audible but Rose gave him a quick glare.

"Well, allow us to demonstrate," said one of the older boys with a nasty smirk on his pimply face.

"Listen, we really don't want any trouble," said Scorpius quickly, "We were just headed back to our dormitory before curfew hit and…"

"Oh do shut up Malfoy," scoffed on of the Slytherin's, they all jumped as the brick wall opened behind Scorpius and Rose.

"What is going on out here," Scorpius smiled nervously as his sister stood with crossed arms and a look of annoyance on her face that reminded him of his grandmother.

"We we're just about to show your brother here, just how welcome you Malfoy traitors are in this school… and hex a Weasley as a bonus," snapped one of the third years.

"Higgs, I'd advise you and your little friends here to get into the dormitory as it is passed curfew and I would hate to lose house-points from a wondering prefect because of your petty grudges," said Nancy in a casual voice.

"And I'd advise you to go crawl back into your usual worm hole and keep your nose out of other people's business," a third year girl with cropped black hair and a face like a pug came into view, "Or learn to keep your brother and his flea infested friends on a shorter leashes."

"What's going on here," they all snapped to look behind all of them to where the blonde Hufflepuff prefect that Scorpius had seen Albus wave too on the train, "It is well passed curfew."

"Vince!" snapped the third year behind Nancy and Scorpius and Rose moved aside as Goyle gave them a glare ad begrudgingly walked over the girl before going inside the Slytherin doorway.

"Please return to your dormitories now," said the prefect, "If I see you all out here in two minutes I will give you detention."

"Whatever," grumped one Slytherin as they went through the brick wall, leaving Scorpius, Rose, and Nancy standing with the prefect.

"What, was that?" asked the girl with a sigh as she looked at Rose.

"Bunch of clods trying to be tough," scoffed Rose, "I know its passed curfew, but do you think we could just make a quick run to the kitchen, Mayella."

"… Fine Weasley, but if you get caught by another Prefect, I am not responsible," the blonde, Mayella, turned on her heel and headed back on patrol.

"Come on you two, I'll show you the kitchen," said Nancy quickly.

"We can find it…" Rose went silent as she saw Scorpius looking at his sister in a worried manor.

"It's perfectly alright, I wouldn't want you two getting into a scuffle with some Hufflepuff's next," said Nancy with a slight smirk, Rose rolled her eyes but understood it was a joke, "Besides, I could really use a late night snack."

"Thank you Nancy," smiled Scorpius, Rose thought he looked like he wanted to ask her something, she made a mental note to at least give them some distance in the kitchen.

It was barely a few minutes until they were outside the painting of the bowl of fruit. Nancy leaned over where Rose stood and tickled the pair and in an instant it sprang forward and a doorway appeared. There was a huge kitchen as big as the great hall; four tables were obviously lined up where the ones in the great hall were. Hundreds of House Elves were bustling around cooking and baking. Although when they door opened, they were swarmed with tons of House Elves ushering them in and fretting over them. Rose felt her stomach turn at the eagerness but smiled. After a quick glance at the Malfoy Siblings, Rose decided to disburse herself and talk to some of the Elves.

"I'm going to go stock up," said Rose quickly and Scorpius saw her eagerness to give them space.

"Nancy…" he looked beside him where she'd been standing, but the third year was sitting in a small chair that already had one of her favorite snacks.

"What were you're doing by the dungeons when I specifically asked you not too," said Nancy in her normal poised demeanor, her brows slightly knitted.

"We were heading to the kitchens and we got carried away in conversation," said Scorpius as a House Elf gave him a sandwich and ushered him to sit at the small table and eat, "Thank you."

"If I hadn't heard the commotion…" Nancy's rant was cut short as Scorpius interrupted her.

"Why didn't any of your friends come out and defend you?" asked Scorpius quickly, he watched his sister's face go slightly pink and she cleared her throat.

"They might have not heard, they… had already gone off to bed," she said contently, "Eat your sandwich."

"Why…" Scorpius' question was ended before it began, as his sister's conversation had turned defensive.

"You know instead of questioning me, perhaps I should be questioning you instead," she snapped, "I was in my dormitory at curfew, doing my school work, and not causing any problems. You and your little friend over there… you two were in the dungeons, which I asked you not to go too, and were out passed curfew. You got yourself surrounded by a gaggle of goons, and Weasel looked like she was ready to fight."

"Well at least my friends actually have spines and didn't hide in a pit whilst one of their own was being insulted, no instead. One came out and joined, and it's not Weasel," Scorpius felt angry, though he should be far used to this, it was typical of his sister's fight or flight demeanor, "And from the way they were talking, I doubt there's a single person in there who'd barely defend their own hide, let alone yours."

"You go straight back to your dormitory and stay out of trouble," snapped Nancy as she stood up quickly and headed towards the exit, "I will be writing home about this."

"Go ahead, whine to Mother and Father, because that's all your normally good at," grumbled Scorpius, his rational mind told him to shut it, but the last sentence escaped, "Don't forget to mention how unwelcome a Malfoy is according to your so called friends."

He knew he'd said too much and wished he could have back peddled. Instead all he received was a scathing glare and his sister storming out of the kitchen's, nearly knocking over a few house elves on the way. He groaned and buried his head in his hands in anguish. He knew he should have just listened to his inner voice. He knew come tomorrow morning, he would be receiving an angry letter from home. There was no sugar coating how angry his sister had been, and even if his rational and understanding mother got the letter and his father never saw it, she would be sending him a very scornful letter.

"Soo… that went well," came Rose's muffled voice and he looked up to see her eating some chicken, a large satchel of food over her back.

"You think?" grumbled Scorpius as he looked up at the tall read head with a sigh.

"Ah, it'll blow over, all siblings fight… I mean," she swallowed her food, "Hugo and I get along for the most part, but there are times I want to dunk his head in a toilet… but that would be wrong."

"If I had shut it one sentence sooner, I know she wouldn't have wrote home… I've barely been at Hogwarts for a week and already I'm going to manage to anger my family twice," said Scorpius, "You know at home, I'm the mediator when my sister's go on the war path."

"We should start heading back, it's well passed curfew and we'll have to be careful not run into any teachers," said Rose as she adjusted her bag, "But I wouldn't worry about it."

"I'll try not to," said Scorpius as he opened the portrait, Rose waving goodbye to the elves.

"Did you know, they don't pay them," said Rose, Scorpius worry was pushed aside as he laughed at her shocked face, "What?"

"Pay house elves?" asked Scorpius, he'd never heard of such a thing.

"We pay ours, not a fortune, but I was raised to pay them. Apparently some of the older ones, I insulted," said Rose, "I mean I know Albus' parents don't pay there's…. but Kreacher is like their family. The eat together at breakfast, he's more like some sort of third parent…"

"You both have elves… your family pays yours?' Scorpius was shocked, the idea of paying a house elf, or even having them eat at the dinner table with them, was stunning, "But why?"

"Are you not aware of the House Elves Rights Credence of 2003, my mother wrote the bill," said Rose with wide eyes.

"Well yeah, we abide by that… My mother would go mad if my father didn't keep current on all the laws… She's a stickler about that," Scorpius muttered to himself for a moment, "But the bill says nothing about paying them or eating with them. It just states that proper attire, sleeping arrangements, and food is provided per house elf… as well as a non-violent working environment."

"Yeah, my dad says that's all my mom could get changed, all the other ideas she had were ignored or laughed at," said Rose, Scorpius saw anger fleet over her eyes, "Weasel?"

"Excuse me?" asked Scorpius in confusion.

"What does your family call Albus and James' family. They obviously call mine Weasels," said Rose bitterly.

"Well my sister had a few choice things she calls James but there's nothing really mentioned about the Potter family… but I guess the Mafloy's and the Weasley's have been at it for ages… You mean to tell me if your family were to casually mention a Malfoy, it would be simple, 'That Mafloy..' and nothing more?" asked Scorpius with a smirk, he noted Rose's ear going red.

"Okay, I see your point," said Rose, any further discussion was ended when they saw two cat eyes glaring at them in the darkness, "Oh no, Mrs. Butter's."

"Great," groaned Scorpius, he looked at Rose, "Got any tuna?"

"No…" she grimaced as she and Scorpius moved quickly down the hall in hopes of making it a good distance before old man Filch showed up.

"Too late," hissed Scorpius as they saw a lantern in the distance, both felt a hand go over there mouths ad fabric fell on top of them.

"Shh," came two familiar voices and both looked behind them to see Albus and James.

Scorpius thought they were complete nutters as they refused the move as old man Filch hobbled by and Mrs. Butters sniffed for them and looked directly at where they were standing. Filch glared in the same direction and shook his head and muttered as he walked off and down the hall behind them. Scorpius gently touched the fabric around them; his father had once mentioned that the Potter's had an Invisibility Cloak, but he'd never put much faith in the thought. However, as he stared at the cloak, he wondered if half the stories that his father had told him actually were factual.

"Come on," said James quietly as they began to walk quickly and closely down the hall.

"Thanks guys," smiled Rose, keeping her voice down.

Albus followed as James directed their turn around a corridor, making sure to pull Scorpius along. Rose was used to following in close motion underneath the cloak, from various cookie jar missions they were used to having. It was key to stick as close to each other as possible, and avoid windy areas. Scorpius sneezed and they froze; James glared back at the young Malfoy who looked ready to sneeze again. Rose covered his mouth quickly and they turned to quickly reach the second floor landing. They heard movement following behind them and the hobbling sound of Filch's cane. They darted so quickly into a small doorframe and closed the door quickly.

Albus moved aside as James' pulled out his wand to lock the door. They remained quite as they heard Filtch hobble passed and try the door; Albus back stepped onto James' foot and heard his brother give a small hiss in pain. The footsteps and the lantern turned and Rose turned to say something, but James' held up his hand, and a second later, the lantern light returned and the door jiggled again. A moment passed and the light finally faded and didn't return this time, Albus let out an audible sigh.

"Way to almost get us caught Malfoy," grumbled James, "I've already got detention next week I don't need another one."

"How'd you get detention?" asked Rose before Scorpius could snap back.

"Lynn and I got caught after hours in the Astronomy Tower," he waved it off casually.

"Lynn? Doing what?" asked Rose in shock.

"Nothing like that, mind you. I was trying to convince she and Fred that if the Slytherin Quidditch team's gear was somehow missing for the first game, we could sleep in a little later on the first game of the season. Fred managed to avoid getting caught," James muttered to himself for a brief second, "And Rose what were you doing wondering around without the cloak?"

"How'd you get caught with the cloak?" asked Albus as James reached for the door.

"Well, funny story actually… Neville yanked it off us," grimaced James, "I'm expecting a letter from our parents come Monday. Now, if you lot would hush up so we could get out of here."

"Rose your hair…" Scorpius muttered as it began to tickle his nose as they squished together under the cloak.

"Sorry," muttered Rose as she pulled it to the side and away from face level with the group.

"Yes, please, no sneezing, now hush," said James and they slowly crept out of the small storage closet they'd been hiding in.

They moved quickly down the halls and taking longer ways around to avoid Filtch, Mrs. Butters, and any teachers who might be on patrol. Albus felt a chill run down his back and he wasn't the only one to glance around for the ghost that had flown through them, but nothing stood. James picked up the pace as quickly as the others could follow, and finally they reached the staircase. Scorpius looked back towards the foot of the staircase as they walked, and stumbled slightly as he walked right into Rose who was staring at the other end.

"It's her," she whispered sharply and he looked to see the same figure as before.

It was a ghost for sure, but the uneasy feeling still remained. He glimpsed her face for a brief moment and he felt his stomach twist, it was eerily familiar, but unsettling. Scorpius looked towards Albus and James, who had followed their gaze. Before anyone could say anything she was gone and James was practically shoving them up the stairs and towards the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Pumpkin Pasties," said James sharply, the Fat Lady was startled awake.

"Really? I'm surprised you're back so early," she said in a snappy tone as the portrait opened.

The only light on in the common room was the dwindling remains of the fire, indicating there were no longer any other students in the Gryffindor Tower who was still awake. James pulled the cloak off of them and folded it up as Albus plopped by the dwindling fire and looked at James curiously. Scorpius and Rose also looked at the eldest Potter with interest, he'd seemed just as baffled as they had moments ago, but now, he was perfectly calm.

"Do I have something on my face?" he asked as he let the cloak fall over his arm, giving up on the folding.

"Do you know who that ghost is?" asked Rose, she still didn't feel right about it.

"Pfft. That ghost haunts the forest mostly, I was a little shocked to see her inside, that's new. But I doubt she's something to worry about, people think she probably died in the Battle of Hogwarts or something, anyone who has seen her never gets within an acre of her," he said casually, which seemed enough to put Rose and Albus at ease, but Scorpius still didn't feel right, but decided to let it fade.

"So how'd you find us? Knicked the map?" asked Rose with a small yawn as she sat down on the chair.

"No, sadly. Dad confiscated it last term when I got caught with it; luckily it was Neville who caught me the other night, so he let me have the cloak back. No, that little Wanker made a bloody racket digging around in my trunk for this," said James as he indicated to Albus and the cloak.

"I was trying to be quite," muttered Albus as Scorpius sat next to him.

"Figured you two were probably headed down to the kitchens or something, so we went to go find you two. I'm surprised though, you do know better Rose. If you're going to be sneaking out passed curfew, if I'm not, you're more than welcome to use the cloak. Though, might I add, it's nice to see you corrupting Scorpius properly. If you're going to be in Gryffindor, you need to explore… comes with the territory," smirked James, he laughed slightly.

"What's so funny," said Rose, Scorpius looked shocked.

"She was not, we just ran into a bit of trouble," said Scorpius.

"I find it hilarious, that you were out passed curfew, even if you didn't plan it. Can you imagine the look on Malfoy's face if she caught wind of you breaking any rules, she'd go through the roof," snickered James.

"Actually, she didn't really blow up at him that much," said Rose quickly as she noticed Scorpius looking bitter, "She even went to the kitchen's with us. Though it was a good thing we only got caught by Mayella… and that she showed up when she did."

"She what?" asked James in shock, however Albus continued the conversation.

"Mayella? Why were you lucky?" asked Albus, ignoring his brother's shock.

"Well we got to talking and we sort of wondered too far passed the kitchen's and into the dungeons," said Rose quickly.

"Got cornered by some very friendly Sltherin's," said Scorpius with an eye roll.

"That's when Scorpius sister came out and tried to get them to leave us alone, but they weren't listening to a word she said…"

"Surprising, she's so good at being bossy," muttered James as he flopped onto the couch and stretched out.

"I think it more egged them on really," said Rose, "Then Mayella showed up and threatened us all with detention. Then she let us go off to the kitchen's and told us not to get caught by any other Prefect. Though I'm sure she won't let it go next Holiday."

"Is she a cousin?" asked Scorpius, suddenly becoming curious; he'd just assumed she was another family friend of the Potter's and Weasley's.

"She's our cousin. Second cousin really… or is it third," said James, he shrugged it off, "She's pretty cool when you're in a bind, just don't get her angry. She's got a real temper, almost as bad as Vic and Dom. She's from our Dad's side of the family…. Okay enough Chit-Chat, it's late and I have practice tomorrow morning, so off to be you lot."

"Why do we have to go to bed, just because you are?" asked Rose, as she fought a yawn.

"Well for one, your obviously tired… Albus is staring off into space mostly, which is pretty normal… and Scorpius can barely keep is eyes open, now off to bed," said James with a loud yawn as he headed towards the boys dormitories, "If I find you lot asleep on the couch come morning, I will wake you up in a very unpleasant manor involving jello."

"We're going," Albus snapped out of his daze, "Come on Scorpius, you don't want to be sneezing jello for the next two weeks come on."

"Night," said Rose as she headed off to the girl's dormitories.

She crept slowly into the room of the other sleeping first years and quickly got changed and ready for bed. It was nearly four as she slid into bed and went to pull her curtain. She stopped as she glance out the window that looked down over the forest. She could see a white figure walking slowly back towards the forest and she could have sworn that in that exact moment the figure was looking at her. Despite James' words, she felt her stomach turn and quickly pulled the curtain shut. Every noise she heard that night, made her even more uneasy, as if her curtain would be pulled back and unnatural eyes and horror would await her. She turned in her bed, cursing every muggle horror movie she had ever seen. Though, something in the back of her mind told her to be worried, but she didn't know what for just yet.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

For more on Mayella Dursley, see A Dudley Story!


	5. Voices in the Dark

Sorry for the lack of update, next one will be posted on 11/15.

To make up for the lack of update, I give you a very long chapter!

**Chapter 5**

**Voices in the Dark**

Albus chewed on the sugar quill he'd taken from James the other night, it was still early. He looked at his watch and heard the movement of a few of his bunkmates. He could hear Towler yawn in the bunk farthest to the wall, but that was the only sound he could make out. He sighed and wondered what an appropriate time was to wake up Scorpius, it had been an hour since he himself had woken up. He suspected that Rose was still sleeping, like any normal student on a Sunday. It was barely seven and he doubted most of Gryffindor tower would be awake.

"Do you think…" The sudden sound as his curtain was pulled back cause Albus to yelp and fall back off the bed, Scorpius raised his brow in confusion, "I should apologize to my sister?"

"How long have you been up?" gasped Albus in shock as he pulled himself back on the bed to look at his friend.

"A while, I've been thinking…" Scorpius was cut off.

"Oi, keep it down," one of their bunkmates yelled out, most likely Brice Miller, a rather testy muggle born boy.

"I've been thinking, that perhaps I should apologize to my sister. I mean I did cross the line," said Scorpius in a low whisper as he sat on Albus's bed.

"Well, if you think you should… But at the same times, she's your sister not your boss," said Albus, "If you said something you shouldn't have, then you should."

"Right…."

Albus found himself sitting by the fire in the Common Room a short while later. He'd finally gotten dressed and out of bed just in time to see the light rain that had been falling on the grounds of Hogwarts, finally start to fade off. It was still far too early of a Sunday for most people to be up and about, but a few students speckled the room, mostly a few fifth years who were apparently discussing girls. He heard a yell from up towards the girl's dormitories, and a second later, Rose cam walking angrily into the Common Room followed by Dominique.

"Oh come on Rose," sighed Dom, "It's not like I'm going to ask you all term or something.."

"I am not doing your paper for Defense Against the Dark Arts, now leave me alone," she grumbled, "Besides you're a whole year ahead of me."

"Please, don't act like you haven't read the second year texts yet," sighed Dominique, "Just a few paragraphs."

"No, now leave me alone," snapped Rose and an annoyed Dominique stormed off back towards the dormitory, "Can you believe her? First week of school and already slacking."

"It's Dom," said Albus with a shrug.

"It's laziness, that's what it is," Rose yawned, her wild hair not even attempted to be tamed today, "Where's Scorpius?"

"Went to the Owlry to apologize to his sister," said Albus as he looked at the clock, "Want to head to breakfast?"

"Not really, I'd much rather sleep… but that won't happen as long as Dominique is still anywhere near the tower," mumbled Rose as she sat up and stretched, "Come on then."

"I wonder if Scorpius will already be down there?" asked Albus, mostly to himself.

"You do realize, you don't need him by your side every moment to function? You did perfectly fine surviving before Hogwarts you know," said Rose with an eye roll, though her attempt at sass was dulled due to her being tired.

As they walked down the halls of Hogwarts, there were very little students anywhere to be seen. The only ones about at this early hour were the occasional student, a few ghosts, and a couple of the professors. They reached the foot of the stair with little topics to discuss, not because there wasn't any, simply because Rose was far to drowsy to keep up any real conversation. Albus knew she'd be more alert after breakfast. He looked to see Scorpius walked near the bottom of the stairs and towards the Great Hall's direction.

"Find your sister?" asked Rose, Scorpius whipped around to look at the two and sighed.

"No, she wasn't in the Owlry and I didn't see Orion, so she probably sent out a letter to our parents this morning," Scorpius looked nervous, "Perhaps she'll be at breakfast."

"Then perhaps we should keep walking," suggested Rose, Scorpius and Albus glanced at her, "Sorry, I'm just tired… and hungry… mostly hungry now."

The three of them made their way into the Great Hall for breakfast, and to look for Scorpius' sister. However when they entered the hall, all they saw were just a light handful of students who were lazily eating or doing school work. Albus sat down in the middle of the table and a short way from a second year who'd apparently fallen asleep. The ceiling of the hall was a murky gray with the clearing rain still disappearing.

"I don't see your sister," said Albus, "Maybe she's still sleeping?"

"Nancy's always up at 6:30 am precisely, she's always been that way… no matter what," Scorpius sighed; Albus assumed he was just accepting his fate, "Well maybe she's doing school work."

"Thanks," yawned Rose as Albus slid a towering plate of food in front of her and then one in front of Scorpius.

"Ohm, thanks Albus," smiled Scorpius warily, his plate was packed with more food than he would normally consume in a day, "Besides, if she wrote to our parents already…. It doesn't really matter when I get a chance to apologize to her does it."

"Exactly, now let's eat," said Albus as he took a bite of the food on his plate, "Besides, so your parents tell you to be nice to your sister… Mine tell James' that all the time, right?"

"Right, morning," said James as he plopped down next to Albus, the rest of the Quidditch team plopping down with a squelching wet sound, "Figures it would stop raining after practice."

"Isn't their showers?" asked Rose as she took a drink of her pumpkin juice, the majority of the team just shrugged.

"Can you believe the Slytherin's, nearly chased us off the field," snapped Lynn as Victorie, who'd discarded her wet over robes, sat next to Rose and Scorpius, "Like five more minutes would have killed them… it certainly won't improve their skills."

"Probably Flint trying to train their new Seeker," said Jillian Thomas as she helped herself to some biscuits.

"They got a new seeker?" asked Fred, "Well I guess they had too as Saunders didn't get held back last year again."

"Oh yeah, and I'm sure they'll be on a training spree… I heard they broke tradition at tryouts the other day… they actually let a girl on the team," said Collin as he took a bite of sausage.

"Well it's about time, might help their coordination," said a second year boy in Quidditch robes next to Jillian.

"Oi, be careful 'Crombie…. We don't want them to be that good," said James with a scoff.

"Perhaps Flint finally got it through his head that a seeker shouldn't weight five times the broom's weight capacity," said Victorie as she finished eating, "See you lot later."

"Wonder who they got?" asked Jillian Thomas, "Hope it's not Zabini, she'll gossip our ears off before the Quaffle evens in play."

"Actually, it's your favorite person Jimmy," smiled Victorie as she messed up his hair.

"…..Malfoy?" asked James with wide eyes and Scorpius chocked on his pumpkin juice.

"My sister," he said through a cough.

"Surprised you didn't know," said Victorie as she began to exit the great hall.

"Well that's just bloody fantastic," groaned James, Fred snickered.

"This ought to be good… hey Scorpius, is your sister any good?" he asked as he leaned over his cousin to look at the blonde who was still in shock.

"At flying?" asked Scorpius, he nodded, "Yeah, she's very good actually."

"Hah! Looks like Jimmy here will have some competition," laughed Jillian, "Hopefully she doesn't go all freak and actually get them to listen to her, we'll be screwed."

"They might actually strategize," laughed Collin Finnegan.

"Excuse me?" asked Scorpius, who seemed to have pulled himself out of shock.

"Hey no offense Scorp," laughed Fred with the others, "But your sister is pretty much a spaz… completely batty."

"Remember that time Montague tossed a frog eye in her Pepper Up Potion, she completely freaked," snickered James as Jillian snorted.

"I won't be surprised if the Slytherin team doesn't have a full uprising and Flint goes missing for a while," said Jillian, "I mean, wasn't he one of the guys who locked her out of their common room in our first year?"

"Yeah…." James was cut off.

"Why would they do that?" asked Albus in shock.

"Better yet, why do you idiots find it so amusing," snapped Scorpius, his normally calm demeanor erased, "Bet it wouldn't be funny if someone did that to you."

"Wow, calm down, it's just….." Collin Finnegan began, but it was if a light bulb flickered on over his head, "Oh yeah…"

"Well… your sister's not exactly… pleasant," said Jillian, "Kind of a Debbie Downer really… and she is a Slytherin… and a…" her words trailed off.

"Excuse me?" asked Scorpius, his brows narrowed.

"She's a Malfoy," said James after a few minutes of silence, "Listen, obviously, you're not quite like your sister… so you understand exactly what her being in Slytherin and her name mean."

"Obviously?" asked Scorpius, Albus tried to calm him down, but Scorpius had jumped up, "What's that supposed to mean? Potter."

"Well you're in Gryffindor, so obviously you're not like other Malfoy's," said Fred, he sighed, "Your more trustworthy."

"Eh," James shrugged, and Scorpius lost it.

"You mean because her last name happens to be Malfoy and she's a Slytherin… so obviously… obviously she must be evil!" yelled Scorpius, Rose was attempting to help Albus restrain him, "That's like saying you're a bunch of barmy neanderthals because you're not in Ravenclaw."

"Careful Malfoy, we haven't fully decided how trustworthy or not you are," snapped James.

"Good for you lot. Well I've decided, Potter, that you're a complete barmy tosser," snapped Scorpius, who looked ready to punch someone, but instead left and exited the Great Hall.

"Really!" snapped Rose as she glared at the Quidditch team and got up with Albus to follow after Scorpius, "Wait up."

"You're going to get it you two," said Jillian as she looked at James and Fred.

"Me? You mean Jim…just you wait till Uncle Harry gets a letter from Albus," grimaced Fred, James groaned.

Albus and Rose exited the Great Hall with no sight of Scorpius. They both agreed to split up and try and locate their friend and hopefully calm the angry Malfoy down. Scorpius however, had taken off outside and had stomped himself all the way to where the lake and forest clashed. He huffed and glared at the area around him before slumping against a damp tree. He was angry and upset and… he didn't know what. He couldn't say surprised…. But he didn't exactly know what he should say, do, or feel. A part him was furious at what he'd heard… and another part of him felt like he should have known. He wanted to punch someone, but his better judgment had been to leave the area before a fight broke out. He didn't know if he should go talk to his sister or if she would just ignore it. He sighed, he wasn't as shocked as he should be and he knew it… it was just hearing the confirmation that did it. He'd spent the past two summers hearing his sisters tales and stories of school… and he'd always found it odd that she only mentioned it when their parents initiated it and never wanted to have her 'friends' over… in fact, they'd all seemed to be at a spectators description, and his suspicions had heightened the other night in the dungeons. It didn't make him any less angry at the Quidditch team's careless manor about it earlier.

_"Imbeciles…."_

"Yeah," sighed Scorpius, "Not even a clue…"

_"Always first to speak but last to think…"_

"I…. Who's there," Scorpius jumped up, he became aware that it was not his conscious speaking but a raspy female voice from the woods.

"_Someone who doesn't judge_," the voice responded kindly, though a shiver ripped up Scorpius' back.

"Who's there," he walked closer to look, but all he saw was darkness, his mind screamed at him to get away, he pulled out his wand, "Show yourself."

"Scorpius!" came Albus' voice from behind him, Scorpius jumped and a fleeting light in the forest disappeared and the cold feeling on his back vanished, "There you are! Rose and I went after you but we didn't know where you'd gone too."

"Well you found me," sighed Scorpius, he felt uneasy as he glanced at the forest edge.

"What are you looking at?" asked Albus, he leaned over Scorpius' shoulder.

"Nothing… nothing at all," Scorpius shook it off, "Sorry, I had to get out of there before I punched your brother in the face."

"I'm sorry about James and his friends… I had no idea. I mean, he can be a bit of a bully sometimes, but we were raised better than that," glared Albus, "I'm writing to my parents tonight…"

"Don't! I mean trust me, nothing would make me happier than to see your brother get in trouble, but I'm a strong believer in karma… Don't need to try too hard," said Scorpius as they headed back, "And don't apologize for him, you've been nothing but nice, overly happy, but nice."

"That's because your my friend," smiled Albus, and Scorpius smiled, "Sooo, are you sure you don't want me to fill my brother's trunk with dragon dung?"

"No… where on earth would your get dragon dung?" asked Scorpius in shock.

"I have my connections… I'd get a hold of some Cornish Pixies, but they would wreak more havoc on Gryffindor Tower than just James alone," said Albus with a smirk.

"There is a reason your brother thought you'd be in Slytherin, isn't there?" asked Scorpius with a small chuckle.

"Now that you mention it…" Albus raised an eyebrow as he went into thought, Scorpius laughed.

Rose walked along the Quidditch Pitch, avoiding puddles as she moved through the still damp grass. She'd checked Gryffindor tower but no one had seen Scorpius and she wasn't sure where Albus had gone, but she thought that the young Malfoy might have gone to talk to his sister. She could hear an argument on the pitch, rather than step into the war path of a punch of Slytherin's, she snuck underneath one of the wet draping's of the spectator's tower, and peeked out the other side and onto the pitch. She could see a tall sixth year with dark hair and eyes standing in between the male members of the team and where a hunched over blonde girl in green robes was behind him. Rose listened closely.

"Knott, what the hell, you're supposed to hit the fuckin' bludgers away from your team mates," snapped, who Rose thought my be their captain, Flint.

"I was testing her reflexes," said Knot with a laugh, the team snickered.

"She can't even see a bludger, I doubt she'd see the snitch," said the other Beater.

"We don't want her on the team… Bad enough you even let a girl on in the first place, but a Malfoy?" scoffed the Keeper.

"How'd she convince you of that, ay?" glared one of the Chasers.

"I'm a good flyer," snapped Nancy, Rose could see her face was caked with blood and her words were hard to understand, "And if'd you wan'd do win'd you'd grow a pair and ged over id!"

"You must be good with a broom to get on the team Malfoy," snapped one of the other Chasers, Malfoy lunged at them, but Flint effortlessly pushed her back.

"That's enough! I want to win this year, and if that means having Malfoy on the team, well then you're just going to have to deal with it! I want that Quidditch Cup in our case this year, got it. Next practice, I don't care if you don't like it, I'm captain! You sods will bite your lip and actually practice! Now, everyone, get out of here!" snapped Flint, "Malfoy, I need to talk to you!"

"Have fun with your girlfriend," scoffed Knott and Flint disgusted as the team left, Nancy and Flint walked closer to where Rose was and she let the small opening fall and just listened.

"I can't have this on my team," snapped Flint.

"I didn'd…"

"I'm taking a risk even thinking of having you on the team… I don't particularly like it myself, but you're a good flyer and I'm sick of those flea ridden Gryffindor's winning every year. I don't care how we win, but we better win. You said you could help us strategize… I think it'd be best that unless you have a brilliant fuckin' plan, you don't open your mouth. Period," growled Flint.

"Got'd it…" Nancy's voice was barely audible.

"Then not a word, even if your agreeing with me. If you don't win us the first game. Your off the team," Rose heard Flint's feet stomp away, she felt furious at the Slytherin Quidditch team, she could only imagine the Malfoy girl's face, probably rage.

However, when Rose dared to look out the curtain, her heart sunk. She saw Nancy Malfoy's stoic and calm face, though covered in blood, break as the Quidditch team was out of view. She'd only seen the elder Malfoy gage three different moods in her brief meetings with her, and all had looked similar; anger, agitation, and annoyance. But her face read no emotion as she turned the opposite way the team had gone, taking the longest way back to the castle. Rose thought to head back to the castle, and possibly hex one of the Slytherin's on the way. However, she ducked out of the curtain and followed behind where Malfoy had headed towards the lake.

"Stupid…" she heard Nancy muttering to herself as she knelt down by the water and rinsed her hands and face in the water, "What was I thinking…."

Rose was confused as why she hadn't just gone back to the castle and to the hospital wing as the girl held up her wand and pointed it at her nose. In a quick snap sound, Rose cringed at the sound of Malfoy's nose being put back into place. She started backing away to head around the lake and back to the castle, but she froze as she heard sobbing. She looked back at the girl, whose shoulder's shook, not knowing what to do. Rose wasn't good with handling emotional moments like this, in fact she avoided them. At the same time, she didn't just want to leave her crying at the lake shore. She looked across the lake, on the other side she could see two figures moving towards the castle and a few students, but to them it would look like someone in green just sitting at the water's edge. Rose slowly walked towards the bank.

"Stay back!" Rose froze as Nancy swung around with her wand, her pale face pink and stained with tears.

"Whoa… calm down.. I just came to see if you were alright," said Rose quickly, her hand on her wand, she didn't know Malfoy well enough to know if she'd actually hex her or not.

"What are you doing here?" asked Nancy, as she lowered her wand and made haste to sober up and wipe her face, "Shouldn't you be off frolicking with Potter's brother and mine?"

"Well.. I saw what happened and… I just wanted to see if you were okay," said Rose, she felt stupid, and the look Nancy gave her, made her feel stupid.

"It's no concern of yours Weasl..ey," snapped Nancy, her face was back to its stoic calm and agitation, "Now run along and play."

"… Fine," Rose glared and turned back down the path, "You know if someone asks if you're okay, you should at least thank them."

"And certain people should mind their own," said Nancy, Rose opened her mouth to retaliate, but she stopped herself; Malfoy had more problems that arguing with her, and she wasn't going to add to the pile.

Rose walked back to the castle and towards the wooded area of the lake. It was starting to sprinkle again and she figured that if she walked along the forest edge it would be less likely she would get wet. She looked at her watch, surprised by how much time had gone by since breakfast; apparently her stomach had a reason to be growling. She leaned against a tree as the rain down poured even more, she knew better than to stand there, but no lightening was in the sky, not even a clap of thunder. She hoped Albus had found Scorpius and were headed down to Hagrid's. In all the chaos of the morning, she'd completely forgotten that she and Albus were supposed to go down there and the invite had also been extended to Scorpius. She was just about to start her venture along the forest edge to Hagrid's when something caught her eye a little ways into the forest, and a sound. Like singing or chanting, she felt her stomach knot at the image of the ghost women flooded her mind.

_'Weasley…'_

She didn't know if it was her paranoia that was making her think she'd heard her voice in the darkness, but she didn't care to find out, she began moving quickly down the path of the forest and towards Hagrid. It felt like something was following her, but she didn't glance at the forest nor behind her, pretending to not hear someone nor to see the flicker of light in the darkness that she knew was nowhere near a unicorn.

"Rose!" she nearly screamed as she ran right into someone around the forest turn, "Whoa, Rosie, what's the rush." She looked up at who she'd run into to see the crooked grin of one Teddy Lupin, who held her by her shoulders. His blue brow raised in concern.

"Teddy," smiled Rose as she gave the young man a big hug, "What are you doing here?"

"I'll explain once we get inside, come on its sopping wet out here," smiled Teddy as they headed to Hagrid's hut, his cloak pulled over Rose's head to keep her dry.

"Hey Hagrid, open up," said Teddy as they passed a window and the large door was pulled open, "Wotcher Hagrid?"

"Teddy, blimey, it's nice to see you. I wasn't expecting you, ah and who's hiding under your cloak?" asked Hagrid as they came in.

"I found a wondering child, thought I'd bring it by," smiled Teddy as Rose ducked out of his cloak and shook her wet hair out of her eyes, just in time to have a large puppy nearly knock her down.

"Hi Hagrid… Hah.. Hi Fang," laughed Rose as the great hound pup attacked her with sloppy kisses.

"Where's the rest of your lot?" asked Hagrid as he pulled Rose up with barely and effort, "Fang, get down, let the girl breath."

"Don't know," said Rose as she sat down, and helped herself to some rock brownies that sat on the table where Teddy had already ditched his wet cloak and sat down, his turquoise blue hair a complete mess, "What are you doing here Teddy?"

"Came with tales of adventure and conquest," beamed Teddy, Rose looked at him, "And also to see Vic."

"Well I'm glad to see you, let me just get a stronger drink for ya," smiled Hagrid, "I don't supposed you'd want pumpkin juice over some whisky."

"How about a Butter beer instead," smiled Teddy, "I do have actual work tonight."

"You mean, apart from rally's and riots," smiled Hagrid, Rose laughed.

"You just wait till Victorie gets here for my announcement," said Teddy happily, "So Ro, how's your first week at Hogwarts.

Albus, Scorpius, and Victorie walked down the path towards Hagrid's, after having Victorie chase them down with an umbrella and beratting them for only using their hoods and not common sense. Scorpius still wasn't sure to make of Victorie, he felt the same odd drawing feeling towards her the same way he did Dominique at times. She was very beautiful with her long strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. He felt Albus nudge him as he began to walk into him, he snapped out of it and watched the grass as they walked. He heard Victorie chuckle, and felt his face flush as she tussled his blonde hair.

"You'll get used to it," she smiled, "I can't really help it though, lucky for me that Teddy's completely immune. I can't even try to convince him of things…. So he said there is something very exciting he needs to tell me, what do you think it is Albus?"

"No idea, I didn't even know he was coming today until you chased after us," said Albus, "We were just going to have lunch with Hagrid."

"Your certain it's okay for me to come?" asked Scorpius, trying to focus on anything but the pretty seventh year they were walking with.

"Yeah, Hagrid said it's fine," smiled Albus, "One of these days I'll introduce you to Gwarp."

"Who?" asked Scorpius.

"You most certainly won't," said Victorie, "Do you want him to get killed?"

"Gwarp wouldn't kill him… Gwarp is Hagrid's little brother," shrugged Albus, "He lives a in a small hut farther into the forest."

"Oh… is he tall too?" asked Scorpius, trying to picture a younger Hagrid.

"He's a giant," said Victorie.

"What?!"

"There you lot are, Teddy's keep'n us on our toes waiting for you," said Hagrid as he opened the door, "Hurry up then."

"Sorry Hagrid," smiled Albus, he beamed as he saw Teddy, "Teddy!"

"Al!" beamed Teddy as Albus gave him a very tight hug, he smiled at Scorpius, "Hello Scorpy."

"Teddy?" asked Scorpius with a raised brow and a smile, "You're their Teddy?"

"Well in all technical terms, I think I'm Victorie's," said Teddy as he gave Scorpius a hug before giving Victorie a kiss on the cheek, "Hello love."

"Wait, you already know Scorpius?" asked Albus, Rose raised a brow.

"Of course I do," smiled Teddy as they all sat down, "Okay, this is perfect, now I can tell you all my news."

"Well then go on, don't leave us all in suspense," said Hagrid as he sat down in between Scorpius and Albus.

"The bill got passed," he beamed from ear to ear, Scorpius seemed to be the only one confused at this announcement.

"Really?" asked Rose with a huge smile, Victorie squalled and gave Teddy a kiss.

"So what does that mean?" asked Albus quickly, "Does dad know?"

"Come on, give us details," said Hagrid with a loud booming laugh, "How'd you finally get those snobby gits to agree."

"What bill?" asked Scorpius in a whisper to Rose.

"The Werewolf Wright Act," beamed Rose, "It means equality for those inflicted with Lycanthropy. Right?"

"Yeah. No more job discrimination with werewolves and no registration required," said Hagrid as he poured them tea, "Ain't that right?"

"Exactly, and it's only taken forever to get it passed," said Teddy with a delighted look on his face.

"No offense, but isn't that dangerous?" asked Scorpius, "You know, not having them registered?"

"Werewolves are people, not some sort of animal," yelled Rose bitterly.

"Rosie, I'm sure Scorpius didn't mean anything by it," said Victorie with a slight sigh.

"What else, is that all?" asked Albus, "I mean I know it's a huge deal…"

"The new wolfs-bane potion is being given free to anyone who wants it," said Teddy, "Though I'm not certain if the council will actually be making it a mandatory agreement or not yet."

"So the new potion is being distributed, freely?" asked Rose, "That's brilliant, but how?"

"Well, my lovely Aunt Hermione, is putting together a volunteer group to make loads of it to be stored and distributed," said Teddy, Rose beamed.

The group talked a little while, but it was starting to get dark so the trio decided to head back to the castle reluctantly. Victorie was lagging behind to spend more time with Teddy, the rain had stopped now and dinner would just be starting to get served. Scorpius wasn't exactly eager to sit with the other Gryffindor's and the memory from this morning had decided to replay in his head. His stomach twisted as he remembered his sister and how he needed to talk to her.

"So, how did you already know Teddy?" asked Rose, breaking Scorpius' concentration.

"Oh ohm, once in a while we'd go visit my father's Aunt Andromeda with our grandmother," said Scorpius, Albus stopped and looked at Scorpius.

"Wait, so you and Teddy are… cousins?" asked Albus in shock.

"Before this conversation continues, can we please make it back to the castle so we can eat, I think that brownie is causing my stomach to murder itself," said Rose, trying to get them moving again, she'd continued walking ahead of them.

They caught up to her and walked towards the castle. They were halfway to the castle when Albus' stomach cramped in a sharp pain. He stopped and the others continued to walk up the hill, not noticing this. He began to hear a type of humming emit from inside the forest, he stopped and looked. The sound seemed to be everywhere, until he saw something white like a ghost walking by and he could hear it coming from it. It sounded female and the shape looked like a women, it was the ghost from the other night.

"Albus!" said Rose as she and Scorpius jogged back down the hill by him.

"Do you see that?" asked Albus, pointing to the glowing shape that stood in front of some trees.

"I don't see anything," said Scorpius, looking in the exact direction Albus pointed, but he felt that familiar unease from earlier.

"Me neither," said Rose, "Come on, were going to miss dinner."

"I can see her, she's right there." said Albus franticly.

"Al, there's nothing there," said Scorpius, who grabbed Albus' arm and started to pull him up hill, he felt sick, "Come on, I'm hungry."

_'I hear your voice on the wind'_

"She's talking, don't you hear her, " said Albus, getting angry at their 'joke,' though now Rose's face had gone pale and she was just as eager to get back to the castle as Scorpius.

"I don't hear ANY thing," said Rose, "If it's that women… let's just go Albus."

"The only thing I hear is you raving like a loon, come on," said Scorpius, yanking Albus now, he didn't see her and that scared him more than when he thought he had earlier.

'_Listen my Child! I am the voice of your history_,' she gestured to him, Albus felt split in two; one told him to go with Scorpius and Rose, but something else was pulling him.

"Albus, please, let's go," said Rose, "Your scaring me."

"Come on, Albus. This doesn't seem right… let's go," said Scorpius, he was shocked at how strong Albus was, but something in his friends eyes made him just as scared as Rose.

_'Be not afraid-come follow me. Answer my call and I'll set you_...' she began to walk away.

"Albus," said Scorpius and Rose as he tried to pull away.

"I have to follow her," said Albus angrily.

"No, you don't…"

"Let go Scorpius!" yelled Albus, punching Scorpius and shoving him away.

"ALBUS!" yelled Rose as she ran to help Scorpius' where he'd fallen down.

_'I am the voice in the wind and the pouring rain._' she picked up speed as Albus ran after her.

_'I am the voice of your hunger and pain._' she said quietly and he ignored the pain in his gut.

_'I am the voice that always is calling you._' he jumped over a log and tried to catch up to her, his whole body screaming for him to stop.

"Wait! I can't keep up," said Albus and was shocked as she slowed a little.

_'I am the voice-I will remain_.' she said spinning around and turning in a new direction.

_'I am the voice in the fields when the summer's gone._' he avoided a branch covered in leaves, in the back of his mind he seemed to feel she was trying to get him lost, but he couldn't stop even when he told himself too.

_'The dance of the leaves when autumn winds blow._' as he caught up to her more, he noticed branches bending towards her.

"Who are you?" he asked trying to catch up to her, as they went deeper and deeper into the forest.

_'Ne'er do I sleep throughout the cold winter long. I am the force that in springtime will grow_.' he almost stopped as her face seemed to flicker in a smirk, but still he couldn't, he was getting scared.

_'I am the voice of the past that will always be_.' she again turned down a darker path, his feet continued running on their own accord.

_'Filled with my sorrows and blood in my fields_.' her voice seemed darker, he wanted to stop following, he wondered if Scorpius and Rose were coming after him.

_'I am the voice of your future_.' she picked up speed and so did he.

_'I am the voice_.' she slowed now and was in a small clearing.

_'I am the voice of your future_.' she seemed to fade into a stone that lay at the base of some trees, it was a small stone, and his stomach stopped hurting.

Albus walked over to the stone. He was compelled to grab it. It almost glowed, he forgot about how he wanted to turn back earlier. Now all he wanted was the stone, the women seemingly had not existed now, but the little stone that lay there, glowing green. He knelt down and moved the branches that blocked it. His whole being was aching as he reached for it, like it was a part of him. His eyes where burning, his vision focused on nothing but the stone. He felt cold as his fingers where less than an inch away. There seemed to be noises or voices screaming at him not too, he wasn't sure, his mind was blank. Before he could grab it, something yanked him up by the arm. He snapped out of it, he remembered he was in the forbidden forest.

"What do you think you're doing!" he heard Teddy's voice, but his vision was still lost to the stone, "Albus? Albus!?"

"W-what. . " Albus looked up at him, Teddy looked furious and even his hair was a violent crimson, and suddenly Albus forgot why he was there.

"Albus, what on earth where you doing? You could have gotten attacked or killed," Teddy's anger fell into concern and his hair turned brown, "Come on, when we get back I want you to tell me what happened. It's not safe here, it's nighttime and where at least a mile in here."

"H-how did you f-find me?" Albus felt Teddy's hand on his, though he felt like asking how he himself had gotten there.

"I heard Rose yell, so I came out of Hagrid's cabin. I could see where you'd run through. Your lucky I was still here. I mean, running through the forbidden forest, completely insane. Now what if I hadn't been here, there are rogue werewolves around here. This is taking far too long, get on," he said crouching down so Albus could get on his back.

"I'm sorry," said Albus as Teddy began to move quickly back trough the path.

"You better save that for Scorpius , you don't go shoving and punching people who are trying to help you," said Teddy with a sigh.

"I-I punched him?" asked Albus, he didn't remember this, but then again he couldn't really recall why he was in the forest.

"Yes you punched him, and pretty hard too. I'd give you props if it had been someone messing with you. But correct me if I'm wrong, I thought you were friends?" asked Teddy, watching around him.

"I don't remember punching him," said Albus, biting his lip, "I remember a kind of ghost women and that's all. Is he mad?"

"Gee, I don't know? Let's think. If I was trying to keep my friend safe and he punches me in the stomach…. Yeah I'd think I'd be angry," said Teddy sharply.

"Teddy?" asked Albus quietly.

"Yeah Al?"

"Are you going to tell dad?" asked Albus.

"Al, if I don't and he finds out, I am going to be in sooo much trouble," said Teddy as they could now see the forest edge.

"Can it wait until the holiday so I can tell him?" asked Albus, he was getting nervous.

"I guess." said Teddy, "But you might want to tell Scorpius and Rose that so it doesn't slip to your brother or Fred. I'll talk to Hagrid in Victorie."

"Thanks Teddy." said Albus, giving a weak smile.

"No problem, but promise me you won't EVER do that again," said Teddy, his hair now back to normal blue as they left the forest.

"Promise," said Albus as he gave Teddy a hug.

"Okay," said Teddy, messing up his hair.

"Albus, are you alright?" asked Hagrid as he hurried over to him, eyes wide and fearful.

"I'm fine," said Albus, looking passed him and for Scorpius.

Scorpius was sitting by the cabin where Rose and Victoire were talking to him. Albus walked over there slowly, hoping that Scorpius wasn't too mad. He was expecting Scorpius to be fuming, even hostile towards him. Scorpius didn't look angry, he looked slightly upset. Rose on the other hand, looked ballistic.

"ALBUS SEVERUS POTTER! WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING!?" it didn't sound like a question even, and in this moment she reminded him more of their grandmother than anyone else.

"I don't know, listen Rose…." he was cut off.

"Why did you run into the forest?! Why did you punch Scorpius, he was trying to stop you?! You idiot," growled Rose, as she thwacked his arm.

"Rose, let him talk," said Teddy, holding her back.

"I'm glad you're alive! Now I can kill you!" her cheeks and ears where pure red.

"Rose!" yelled Scorpius, "Let him talk."

"Scorpius I'm sorry I punched you. Do you forgive me? I'm really, really sorry. I don't even remember…." Albus was mostly concerned about his friendship rather than his ranting cousin.

"Uhm hmm," mumbled Scorpius.

"I'm sorry," said Albus again, he felt like crying or at least screaming.

"You should be!" yelled Rose.

"Give it a rest Rose," said Victoire, "But you are in so much trouble, even James has the common sense to avoid the forest."

"Wait until your parents find out, you know very well who'll they'll blame," said Rose.

"That's your parents Rose," said Albus, snapping back, "And don't tell them. If you do they'll tell mine and I WANT to tell them myself on holiday."

"Oh whatever," she growled as she walked back by Scorpius, and helped him up, "Let's go. Come on Scorpius."

"Scorpius?" Albus walked towards him.

"Yeah."

"How mad at me are you?" asked Albus, Scorpius sighed.

"I'm not mad at you, okay. Just don't ever do that again," said Scorpius. "So what happened?"

"I don't remember. Did I follow her? I remember seeing her.. and you guys didn't and the next thing I knew... Teddy was yelling at me and I was looking at a rock," said Albus.

"Okay, you better come up with something more exciting to tell me if you want my full forgiveness," said Scorpius, with a smirk, "At least dramatize it a bit…. Make it more entertaining."

"Fine . . . . hmm. There was a giant spider chasing me while I followed her.. and it breather flames." he tried.

"Was there really," said Rose, turning to him in shock, anger briefly off her face.

"No. He asked me to dramatize, so I am," said Albus.

"Tell me more of your 'exciting' adventure after we eat," said Scorpius smiling.

"Will you two be serious? Honestly. Albus went chasing into the forbidden forest after something no one could see or hear. He also punched you," said Rose, her ears went red.

"Come on Rosie, lighten up. He's fine and it's not like I'm dying. My stomach will feel much better once I actually have food," Scorpius hesitated, "Was.. was it that ghost?"

"…Yeah, I think so… why?" asked Albus, he saw Scorpius' nervous look.

"Don't you realize he ran into a dangerous forest and he did it because he saw something," said Rose, stopping half way up the hill, "Most people run away from things like that you know."

"If your going to get worked up over it, let's just not talk about it. He already said he doesn't remember why he did. The end, story over," said Scorpius, he looked at Rose, "Why do you keep talking about it anyways?"

"How can you not be angry or worried," said Rose, she hesitated, "What about you?"

"Did you guys see something too?" asked Albus, Scorpius opened his mouth to speak but Rose spoke first.

"Earlier… when it was raining after I left Nancy… I ended up walking the edge of the forest and something was following me, it didn't feel right," said Rose quietly as they reached the castle doors.

"I heard something earlier before you found me….. why were you with my sister?" asked Scorpius, looking at Rose questionably.

"Nothing, I was looking for you," said Rose quickly.

"Okay, we'll talk about this later. Let's go eat dinner," said Scorpius as they headed into the Great Hall.

"Promise you wont tell your parents Rose?" asked Albus, pouting.

"Oh alright… we'll sort it all out later," said Rose, Scorpius smirked.

"Sort what out?" asked Fred coming from an opposite hall.

"Nothing," said the three quickly

"Uh huh," said Fred, not believing a word, "Where have you been all day?"

"Around," said Scorpius, "Hagrid's… places."

"I will find out what you three did." said Fred as he backed into the hall, "Mark my words."

"We didn't do anything," said Rose.

"Sure," said Fred, "Hey Scorp, sorry about the whole thing earlier."

"Great now he and James are going to be following us everywhere," said Albus as his cousin headed further down the table.

"We'll have to hide the map on him," said Rose, glancing over at the Slytherin table.

"What map?" asked Scorpius, as he looked to locate his sister.

"We'll explain later," said Albus, "Did you want to go eat with Nancy?"

"I'm not sure… I'm afraid she might be too angry with me," said Scorpius, "I could congratulate her about the Quidditch team…"

"I wouldn't really bother her with that…. but I don't think she'll be that mad at you," said Rose quickly, she looked at her plate, "Go on, we'll talk more in the common room."

"Right…" Scorpius gave a lingering glance at the two before heading towards the Slytherin table where he saw his sister staring at her food.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

Next Update: 11/15


	6. Quidditch Violence and Secrets

**Chapter 6**

**Quidditch Violence and Secrets**

The next two weeks of school had gone by smoothly, though not flawlessly. It was early Saturday morning and the first Quidditch Game of the season was going to begin in a few short hours. It was not the ideal day for a match; cold and rainy. Thunder crashed violently in the distance, so loud that it was the reason that Scorpius Malfoy sat next to the warm fire reading his morning mail. It had turned out that his sister hadn't even sent word of their argument to their parents. Which made perfect sense as she'd been avoiding the entire subject and he didn't want to bring up anything that might make her angry or upset, both were hard to handle. He had been surprised to have multiple letters so early in the morning; it seemed his parents, sisters, and grandparents had all decided to write. His first letter, from his sisters, was mostly filled with questions about spells he'd learned and if he'd used them yet. As he was about to open his parents, Albus came down the stairs.

"Mornin'," yawned Albus, "How long have you been up?"

"Not too long, what are you doing up so early?" asked Scorpius as he put his letter down.

"I told Seri that I'd meet her down by the green house….. though," he grimaced at the downpour, "I'd cancel but she's probably already there… anything good?"

"Ohm, dunno. My grandmother sent me chocolates, you can have some if you'd like, I won't eat them all," said Scorpius, indicating to a package that was elegantly wrapped, save for the top opened.

"So, have you figured out how you're going to cheer at the game?" asked Albus as he took two of the chocolates.

"Oh, I forgot about that… can you ask Serendipity if I could sit with her?" asked Scorpius, "I'll cheer for Ravenclaw."

"Its Slytherin versus Gryffindor?" said Albus with a raised brow.

"Exactly," smirked Scorpius.

"You can sit with my dad and I," said Albus, "Normally both my parents come to James' first game of the season, but she can't make it."

"Your dad?" asked Scorpius, he felt nervous about the thought… the idea of sitting next to Harry Potter at a school quidditch game was alien to him.

"Yeah, my dad wants to meet you actually, besides Rose is probably going to sit by us too," said Albus as he pulled on the coat he'd brought down with him.

"Ohm... maybe," said Scorpius as Albus stood up, "See you later then."

"Yeah, I'll come get you down on the pitch, it'll be great," beamed Albus as he headed towards the portrait, "See you in an hour."

"Yeah…"

Scorpius watched the portrait close and sighed. He didn't really have much of a choice now. He wouldn't have anyone to sit with if Albus and Rose were both sitting with Mr. Potter. He momentarily wondered what the famous Harry Potter was like, if he went off the stories he'd head of him… he imagined he was much like James; headstrong and cocky. For the next few minutes he imagined an older and tougher James and grimaced. It would not be a pleasant game for sure, he wasn't certain he could deal with his sister's team being bashed as James often did.

Albus shivered as he jogged down to the green house, the glass was foggy due to the different temperatures of it versus the cold outside. He wished he'd remembered gloves or his scarf if anything, he was happy the door wasn't locked and he wouldn't have to knock and wait for someone to answer. He was already getting soaked; it would have been wise to bring an umbrella. He glanced at the castle, hoping his cousin Victorie wasn't hiding somewhere ready to yell at him.

"Morning Professor Longbottom," smiled Albus as he could see his Professor and family friend looking over some Mandrakes.

"Really Al?" asked Neville with a smile.

"Morning Neville," said Albus, he saw Seri from the other end waving.

"Hello Albus!" she smiled cheerfully, "I actually expected you not to come with the rain, but I'm glad you did."

"Did you get any breakfast?" asked Neville as he indicated towards where some pastries and tea sat at a small table, "My lovely daughter brought me far too much for breakfast this morning."

"Hannah asked me to make sure you eat," said Seri as she handed Albus gloves, "Your cold."

"Implying I starve myself then," said Neville with a chuckle, "If you two are walking out there, please take an umbrella or something. There are spares in the storage box."

"Yes dad," smiled Seri as she went to get them ones.

A short time later, the two walked with a large umbrella, towards the pitch. He handed her one of the chocolates as they made their way towards a small bench near the school that would give them some shelter and gave them a good place to watch the quidditch teams starting to gather.

"Thank you Albus," she smiled as she opened the chocolate.

"I got them from Scorpius," smiled Albus as he leaned back against the castle wall.

"I suppose that makes up for breaking your promise," she shrugged.

"What?" he turned to look directly at her, confusion ran through his head.

"Last summer you said you would have breakfast with me once a week, but this is the only time we have," she said slightly crestfallen.

"I'm sorry, I forgot," he really had forgotten the plans he had made with her in summer, he felt terrible.

"That's okay, just eat with me next Saturday, okay?" she asked, "And if you don't, I'll just go and find you."

"That's good, that way I won't forget," sighed Albus, "So how is everyone, obviously I know Neville's fine. Is it less awkward?"

"Well obviously my mom and Hannah get along for the most part. By the end of this summer, it kind of became the normal. It's much easier to see my mom now that she and Rolf are right down the road, rather than hoping she's not lost in some jungle," smiled Seri warily, "I'm just not sure how to feel about it yet."

"Did you want to talk about it?" asked Albus as he turned to look at his friend, her normal sparkle in her eyes wasn't as bright.

"Well, I understand that my mom and dad didn't work out because she wanted to travel for her work, and when Hannah married my dad, it was easier to accept… I hate to say it, but I feel rather resentful towards the twins…. As I should expect," Seri's face scrunched up slightly in annoyance, "I just find it hard that now she was ready to settle down to raise them…. But she didn't want to do that with me… does that sound awful? I don't hate my mom or brothers, it's just aggravating I guess. I just feel like I can't really talk about it… I mean Hannah's my step-mom, and she's wonderful and all, and always has been… Then obviously Allison is not in the same boat as me, because Hannah's her mother… And Rolf's completely oblivious too it… and I don't want to talk to my mom and dad about it. My mom would just smile and be honest and sweet about it… and dad… dad would get awkward… Oh I'm so sorry I'm ranting…"

"No, it's fine… makes me appreciate my family a bit more," smiled Albus, hoping to lighten the mood.

"I'm glad….. why do you keep looking at the forest?" asked Seri, Albus snapped back to her.

"No reason… so ohm, how's Christmas going to go then?" asked Albus quickly.

"Who's hosting this year?" asked Seri, "I forgot to ask and dad didn't remember."

"I think we are," said Albus, "Because Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione hosted last year."

"Is your dad's cousin and family going to be there. I thought it was so funny the other year when he convinced your dad to put up the tree without magic," chuckled Seri.

"My mom was so mad, tree bits everywhere, blood… and of course the miscalculations of the height for the ceiling," laughed Albus, he saw Seri check her watch.

"I'm going to go get changed and dig out my mom's Gryffindor hat for the game," said Seri happily.

"I love that thing, though I still don't know why she has a Gryffindor hat," said Albus in confusion, "I'll head in with you, maybe I'll grab a quick bite before the game."

The rain had started to let up as they began to walk back towards the castle entrance. Serendipity was talking to him but he wasn't focused on what she was saying, he was glancing at the forest. He had seen something but was trying to force himself to look away. He continued walking next to Serendipity, but his eyes had now transfixed on a small part of the forest where he could see something or someone watching him.

"Albus? Are you listening to me?" asked Serendipity.

"Oh yeah, sorry," said Albus, looking at her quickly.

"So what do you think?" she asked.

"Y-yeah, g-great idea. Brilliant even," he almost slapped himself, why did he have to stutter when he lied.

"You didn't hear a word I said, did you?" asked Serendipity, "You can't lie Albus, your terrible at it."

"I'm sorry, I saw something in the forest," said Albus.

"Okay, I'll forgive you this time... but three annoyances and I will be forced to sick a Crumple-Horned Snorkack on you," she smiled.

"You found one?" his eyes wide, Seri sighed.

"I wish. No, not yet. Though my mother did promise that next summer she'd take me to Sweden…" Seri smiled, "I don't know we'll have any luck."

"That sounds amazing,; you have to get lots of pictures," she nodded to him, "Even if you don't find one."

Scorpius walked towards the pitch in silence, people were starting to travel in hoards towards it. Rose had told him to go on a head and that she needed to run back to the tower for her scarf. He begrudgingly had agreed to proceed without her. As if he hadn't already felt awkward and nervous. He heard whispers around him as he walked, he ignored it, it had become rather common. If it hadn't been about his surnames, it was about Albus or Rose's… both for different reason. However, he suddenly became aware that they were whispering in awe about something or someone else.

"Scorpius?" came a man's voice, Scorpius jumped, too busy lost in his own thoughts, "Oh sorry, Scorpius, right."

"Yes…" Scorpius trailed off as he looked up to see the source of the whisper, Harry Potter was at Hogwarts.

"I'm Mr. Potter, Albus and James' dad," he said with pride as they walked, "I really didn't need to ask if you were Scorpius, I just thought it would be more polite rather then, 'Hey, how's it going?' Have you seen Rose?"

"Ohm, she had to go… get something," said Scorpius, he felt very nervous as they headed onto the pitch and towards the stands, "Albus said that I could sit with you three… if it's alright?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" laughed Harry, "I don't bite."

A short while later, Scorpius felt less nervous as he sat with Harry, he was nothing how he'd imagined him. In fact, he seemed less like the hero or the annoyance he'd heard tales about and more like an average man coming to watch his son's game. The stands were starting to fill up quickly as Harry inquired about school and typical things. If anything, Harry Potter seemed more nervous than him. Scorpius looked towards the castle for Rose, and glanced at the forest, and then it popped in his head. He looked at Harry, who he was certain knew much more about the forest than most. They had been talking about the Hogwarts ghosts and Halloween.

"Mr. Potter… Was there any… ghosts after the war?" it was a random question that caught Harry off guard.

"Ohm… well… not as many as one would think," said Harry glumly, "Why?"

"Is there… anything such as a dangerous or… malicious ghost. I mean, not a poltergeists," asked Scorpius quickly, if he'd asked his father a question like that he would have asked him a hundred questions, but not Harry, he thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Well… ghosts are an imprint a dying witch or wizard leaves in this world. So I suppose that if someone could and they were not a good person. It is likely, however rare, that they could become a ghost. But from my understanding, it's a fear of the unknown and regrets or remorse that cause someone to reside," said Harry, he raised a brow; Scorpius thought he was trying to detect any ulterior motives to these questions.

"Could a ghost harm or control someone?" asked Scorpius, he thought back to how Albus had said he didn't remember going into the forest.

"Scorpius, is there something I should know?" asked Harry in concern, however before Scorpius could answer he felt a hand on his shoulder and Harry gave a slight smile, "Hello Malfoy."

"Nice to see you Potter, harassing my son are you?" Scorpius looked up at the gloved hand to see his father standing over him.

"Father? What are you doing here?" asked Scorpius with a smile, he hadn't expected to see his till the holiday.

"I came to watch your sister's first game," beamed Draco, he glanced at Harry, "Come to watch my daughter beat your son?"

"I don't doubt she's good Malfoy, but my son's an exceptional flyer," said Harry casually, Scorpius was surprised when his father sat on the other side of him rather than attempting to sit elsewhere.

"We'll see about that Potter," said Draco keeping a hand rested on Scorpius' shoulder.

Rose hurried up the steps and passed the people with her bag. It had occurred to her to bring some snacks and treats for the game. She darted passed a few teachers and nearly ran over Neville who simply laughed. Rose was excited to see her Uncle Harry and watch Gryffindor kill Slytherin. She heard her name being called behind her and stopped to see Albus jogging up after her. She backed against the wall to let teacher's past as she waited for her cousin.

"I thought you were with Scorpius?" asked Rose, "I sent him ahead so I could get some food."

"I thought you'd bring him…." Said Albus as he looked around, they could hear the game begin.

"Why are you two just standing there, come on," they looked up at the top of the stairs to see Scorpius disappear back to the seats.

"Well apparently he made it," said Rose as she jogged up the stairs and turned, she smiled as she saw her Uncle's messy hair, less so due to a fact he had attempted to use Sleek Easy Hair Tonic, "Hi Uncle Harry."

"Hey Rosie," beamed Harry as he turned around in his seat and gave his niece a big hug, followed by one from Albus, "Hi Albus."

"Glad you found…" Rose trailed off as she sat next to Scorpius, and looked at Draco Malfoy.

"Rose brought food," whispered Albus to Scorpius as if he hadn't seen the elder Malfoy, which it appeared he had.

"Good… oh this is my father," smiled Scorpius as he saw Rose's confused face, or at least that's what he thought.

Rose fell silent as she looked up at the elder Malfoy and sat next to her Uncle quickly. She remembered her dad telling stories about school and it was one thing to imagine the people from their past, it was quite another to see them. She felt very awkward and small, though on the outside she couldn't read Scorpius' father. However, she was more surprised by Albus calm demeanor as he glanced at him with mild curiosity and smiled. However her attention was soon drawn to the game that was currently in action as the voice of Nick Jordan rang through the stands as he commentated for the game.

"And Knot of Slytherin steals the Quaffel right under Finnegan's nose," yelled Jordan as the burly Slytherin that Rose had seen the other week nearly knocked Collin Finnegan from his broom, "Come on Collin wakeup."

Rose watched the game intently and cheered when Jillian Thomas scored the first goal of the game, which didn't last long as Montague scored the next goal. It seemed to be a typical and safe Quidditch game until, as most houses would agree, the Slytherin's began to use their own special tactics. One of the Higgins brothers hit a Bludger right passed Lynn Woods' head, who had blocked one of Knot's shots.

"That was intentional, there should be a penalty," said Rose angrily, she heard Mr. Malfoy chuckle.

"It's a standard tactic for the Slytherin team, brute force over strategy and skill," said Harry casually, giving a sharp glance at Mr. Malfoy.

"Perhaps that is the strategy, playing with strengths," smirked Mr. Malfoy, Harry rolled his eyes.

The game went back and forth, each team scoring points and narrowly avoiding bludgers. Rose looked towards where she saw her Potter cousin who floated directly across from where Scorpius' sister remained perfectly still. Then, without warning, she jetted upwards and gave chase to something that was unseen. Jordan commentated as James followed suite, but fell back as Nancy froze in place again. This happened a few more times in the game, and Rose thought that the snitch had just vanished until Mr. Malfoy gave a soft chuckle and her Uncle sighed.

"Really? Fainting?" asked Harry, "Wonder where she learned that from?"

"So she doesn't see the snitch?" asked Albus, Rose scoffed.

"She's crying wolf, hoping if she does it enough… when she actually does see the snitch, it'll give her a decent head start before James' notices it's the real thing," said Scorpius with a smile, Rose opened her mouth to retort but the presence of Mr. Malfoy and her Uncle Harry made her too nervous to do so.

"It's very useful… if your opponent is gullible," said Mr. Malfoy, Harry smirked.

"Only if she sees the snitch above her head before James does," said Harry in a casual manor, Rose watched Mr. Malfoy scowl and focus back on the game.

The game became increasingly more violent, causing a few penalty shots, though Rose believed there should have been far more. It was neck and neck for a while, but Gryffindor was pulling strongly ahead, due to the Slytherin's being double teamed by multiple chasers, though not as much as the Slytherin beaters kept sending bludgers towards the Gryffindor team. Rose nearly jumped as the three people beside her made a sharp movement and she heard Jordan begin to focus on the seekers. True to her tactic, at the sight of the real snitch, Nancy had gotten a good head start before James noticed she'd taken off. Rose had to admit; she was a very good flyer and managed to easily dodge an oncoming bludger. Rose glared slightly, it hadn't been sent by a Gryffindor beater but one of her own teammates. She was certain she hadn't been the only one to notice and a glance to her left; she could see a scowl forming on Scorpius' face, his blue eyes narrowed at the beater. James caught up fast, he'd narrowly missed the same bludger, and he zipped forward, leaning all his weight to flatten himself just enough to catch up alongside the Slytherin seeker. Rose could hear the Slytherin crowd yelling, and it seemed to feed Nancy's attempt at reaching the snitch. The game continued below them as they stayed neck and neck in the chase. The Gryffindors were attempting to put as many goals in as possible, in case the Slytherin seeker got the snitch. Rose felt a little angry at the lack of blocking attempts from the Slytherin team.

"Yes," she heard Mr. Malfoy mutter, Rose glanced at the Malfoys for a moment before seeing where Nancy had taken the lead and her hand was stretched out, a flicker of light on gold made a sparkle right above her fingertips, which closed around it.

There was an explosion of sound from the Slytherin's and boos from the Gryffindors, which turned into a mixture of cheers. In an attempt to gain enough points to win without catching the snitch, the teams had tied. Rose cheered with the rest of the crowd but she couldn't help herself to look over at the opposing team as she remembered the weeks prior, they hadn't lost. The Slytherin team looked in between emotions; Flint looked unconcerned by the tie, but the majority of the team looked outraged. She glanced towards where she could see James zooming down to the pitch towards his team; the Gryffindors reveled in their half win with pride. Rose glanced upwards to see a Nancy slowly descending towards her team, Rose couldn't see any form of excitement from Scorpius' sister, in fact she looked transfixed on the snitch in her hands.

"Well Malfoy, I have to say, your daughter is actually fairly good," said Harry as the cheering began to die down.

"I know," smirked Mr. Malfoy, Rose looked at his snarky demeanor, but her Uncle seemed completely fine with his attitude.

"James' is good," smiled Scorpius quickly as he glanced as his father, who gave a muffled scoff that was turned into a cough.

"Hey, what's going on?" asked Albus as he leaned over the stand and looked down towards the pitch.

Rose leaned over as well and looked down at the mingling of scarlet and green. One moment it appeared to have simply been James saying something to Nancy and then the next moment James was in a fight with Knott of Slytherin. In the blink of an eye, Harry had torn out of the stands and down the stairs. This all by the time it appeared James had pulled out his wand and sent a hex at Knott, however, said hex managed to shoot right passed him and hit two of the few who were trying to defuse the chaos; Nancy Malfoy and Fred. Rose heard an angry noise from where Mr. Malfoy had once stood but as the three of them looked all they saw was the fleeting flicker of Mr. Malfoy's cloak down the stair well.

Rose, Albus, and James sat on the bench outside the hospital wing where the Mafloys were currently at, they had visited a disgruntled Fred who was not happy at all to be hit with a stinging jinx and vowed vengeance. Though that might mean that James would simply get a face wash come snow fall. However he had simply taken the potion given to him by elderly Madame Pomfy and Madame Irwin and gone to sleep. Albus was still confused about what exactly had happened after the game, but he heard his father's voice down the hall. He looked at the silent James, which made Albus uneasy, he'd rarely ever not heard his brother not talk. James looked up as their father turned the corner, whomever he had been talking too had gone down the other hall. He stopped in front of James and sighed, Albus watched his brother look down at his muddy boot.

"James, what happened?" asked Harry with a questioning look, "Why on earth did you have a wand? Better yet, what exactly caused the fight?"

"I always have a wand, dad, you know that," muttered James, "And they started it."

"People try to pick a fight with me daily. You don't see my in a brawl every time it happens, you can't go around hexing people James," said Harry calmly.

"Well then… good for you," snapped James, who stood up and began walking towards another hall.

"James Sirius Potter," Harry exhaled before going after his eldest son.

"Should we…" Rose looked at the two retreating figures, but realized that Albus had already got up to follow them.

"James, don't walk away from me. What happened?" asked Harry, Rose could tell her Uncle was trying to keep his voice calm and level, but the anger was growing steadily.

"It was just a stupid fight, it wasn't some huge disaster, does it really matter?" asked James with a sigh.

"Obviously it does, if you were so upset to lash out," said Harry, Albus and Rose ducked behind a knight and listened in, "I'm waiting."

"Okay I was civil. I went to tell… Malfoy that I was impressed with her flying… she nodded and started walking off… and then one of her bumbling teammates made a few comments that weren't very… nice… So I told him to sod off…. He took a jab at me for sticking up to Malfoy, and well… I retorted, he took a swing, and you saw the rest," James crossed his arms.

"How does it matter if you stuck up for Malfoy, it's just a game. Everyone jabs at one another," said Harry, Rose could see her uncle trying to understand the issue.

"I don't want it getting around the school, I'll never live that down," sighed James, but the two saw his face go red in embarrassment at Harry's narrowed eyes.

"You don't want it getting around the school that you stuck up for someone?" asked Harry, his hand running through his hair in frustration, "Or just a Malfoy?"

"Nobody likes her, dad. She's weird, and well honestly…. Malfoy's isn't exactly a favorable name around here…." James looked at his father, "If people heard I was being nice to her, they would think that I liked her and…"

"Oh no, because that would be the end of the world," snapped Harry, "Listen, I don't care how the other students parents raised them. Your mother and I raised you quite differently. Judging someone by their name put you no better than judging someone by blood."

"It doesn't matter if she's a pure-blood…"

"Really, because I think it does," said Harry, "That is the same mentality. Frankly, I don't give a damn about what everyone of your friends will think. You do not treat others like you are better than them. I am disappointed in you, and you aren't just going to apologize to Fred you're going to apologize to Nanartemis Malfoy as well, do you understand? You know better."

"I..." James looked down, looking less like a thirteen year old and more like a scolded five year old boy, "I know… it's just… I don't want people to…"

"What? Too what? Treat you like you say everyone treats her?" asked Harry with a heavy sigh, "It's better to be disliked for doing the right thing rather than liked for doing the wrong thing. Don't act like you never knew that, because you've heard testimony to that at least twice a week your whole life."

"I know…" said James, "I'm sorry."

"I have to go check on your cousin before I go to work…. This discussion is not over," said Harry, he sighed and hugged James, "That all being said. Please do the right thing."

"Okay.." said James as Harry messed up his hair, "Are you going to tell mom?"

"….. yes," said Harry, James grimaced, "If I don't… She will find out and we'll both get it."

"….I know. I know… good thing she didn't come to the game, ay?" asked James with a slight smirk.

"Eh…. I think she might have hexed some Slytherin's herself… but you didn't hear that from me," said Harry as they began walking back, "Right Rose? Al?"

"Eeep," Rose jumped as Harry and James stopped in front of them.

"Little buggers," groaned James.

"Hi dad," smiled Albus, as Harry put his arm around Rose and Albus.

"You two need to learn to hide better if you're going to be eavesdropping," said Harry, he cleared his throat, "Not that I condone such behavior."

Scorpius sat next to his sister, whose face swelling was starting to subside. She had been crying, which he was certain had made it worse. At first he thought it was from the pain, but he had started to wonder as she glared at some of her quidditch robes. Right now her eyes were dry and she was currently leaning against their father who was rubbing her arm in an attempt to calm her down. Scorpius noticed that her hand was balled up tightly, but his attention snapped up as his father began talking.

"I'll see to it that the Potter brat gets…" Draco was cut off by Nancy, who had a slight lisp due to the swelling.

"Don't… he didn't mean too," she said quickly, "He was aiming towards Knott."

"What happened?" asked Scorpius before his father could say anything, "Please?"

"Potter came to tell me that I was a good flyer," she smirked, "Which I already knew. Then Higgins and Knott said that was a load of bullocks and that if I was, I would have knocked Potter off his broom so they could at least score another round….. Montague said something and the Potter told them to sod off… then Knott and he got into it….. that's it."

"You're sure?" asked Draco, he was hesitant, "Nothing else."

"Yes, it's fine, Potter didn't do anything… it was a stupid testostorin filled fight and I got hit in all the chaos," said Nancy with a s sigh.

"Okay, I'm going to go send word to your mother, I'll be right back," said Draco as he gave his daughter a kiss on top of her head and left.

"No it's not," said Scorpius, he knew his father had bought it, but he didn't care, "They were working against you, your own team. I saw them send a bludger at you… and they were practically letting us score."

"They don't want me on the team…. If we lost… I'm off the team… so they wanted to loose so I wouldn't…" She wiped her eyes furiously, trying not to cry.

"If that's their attitude than don't be on the team, there losers anyway…." Scorpius snapped, but he was cut off.

"I need to be on the team, you don't understand! You come here and you're instantly best friends with Potter's little brother! You're off in Gryffindor! No body locks your out of common rooms or hides your books. You don't get shoved around or have to hide in a toilet just to get a moments peace! Or worse… worse is when you get ignored and not just ignored, treated as if you're not even there. You have no idea what it's like to be a first year and apart from a handful of teachers and some house elves, your treated like you're not even there," her voice was loud and heavy with sobs, "I need to be on the team, even if it's just seventeen days of the year that people treat me like a human being, it's worth all the gripes and bludgers."

"…. I," Scorpius stared at his sister in shock, it was foreign to see her in this state; she was always the practical one at home, even when she was in an argument, "Why didn't you tell mother and father?"

"They would have home schooled me? Sent me away to another school? What? Spoken to teachers," said Nancy with an edge to her voice, "It would have caused more problems than help."

"You don't need them," said Scorpius quickly, "Who cares about those wankers, there just a bunch of hypocritical idiots. Besides, it'd be there loss; they can't even fly to save their lives. Just because I sit across the great hall doesn't mean we can't talk or anything."

"I wish it was that simple," said Nancy.

"Why didn't you tell me?" asked Scorpius quickly, "I mean, at least something.. I could have…"

"It's not your problem and I shouldn't make it sound like it is… I'm happy you have friends and all those wonderful things…." She gave a sad smile, both turned as they heard someone clear their throat, "Flint?"

"How's your… face?" asked the Slytherin captain awkwardly, Scorpius glared, "Listen, the game…"

"I know, we didn't win… I'm off the team," she muttered, "But if you give me another chance… I could come up with a new strategy next time…"

"No need," said Flint as he shook his head, Scorpius stood up, Flint towered over him.

"You know what, you're a complete idiot. My sisters a fantastic flyer… and your idiot team didn't do a damn thing to try and work as a team…" Scorpius was cut off.

"Scorpius, please," said Nancy, he scoffed and sat down.

"I know," he said sharply and then looked at Nancy, "Not that I care to talk about this with a Gryffindor present, but he's right. The team did nothing but act like a bunch of clods…. That's why we didn't win. Not you, you're the only one who did a damn thing. So I informed them that if they have a problem with our seeker and her strategies… they can deal with me. No hard feelings Malfoy…. Just don't be late for practice…. .."

"What?" asked Nancy, her swollen eyes wide.

"You're on the team, if you want." he said quickly and opened his mouth to speak again, but left.

"Please, like you need them…" Scorpius turned to his sister, but her eyes were filled with delight, "Nancy?"

"They want me on the team… well kind of… but that's better than before," she smiled, Scorpius went to say something, "Don't. I know its petty… but I needed to hear that…. Besides.. he said if I wanted… I'll let them loose a few games…and then… maybe if they ask me nicely."

"…. Your such a Slytherin," laughed Scorpius.

"No… I'm a strategizer," smirked Nancy, thought Scorpius could see a wave of emotions in her eyes.

Monday morning was chaos, everyone was up early, the winning enthusiasm had died down, and most students were still sleeping in bed, and would be late for their classes. Scorpius, Rose, and Albus sat at the Gryffindor table a little ways from James and an arguing Fred. Fred had forgiven James but only under the promise that he would help him with some unknown experiment he was working on. It seemed like a shady deal to be honest, but they shrugged it off.

"I was going to ask my sister if she wanted to join us, but I'm not sure if she would," said Scorpius as he saw his sister walk into the Great Hall.

"We could…" Albus trailed off as in an instant, James was already headed over towards the Slytherin table.

The three watched as Slytherin's looked up as James approached where Nancy had just been about to sit down. They couldn't hear them, but James seemed to be struggling with words and she gave a slight smirk. Albus assumed it was James' apology he'd been told to give, but what happened next, caused a whispers and shock amongst a great few. Instead of turning around or heading back to the Gryffindor table, James sat down next to Nancy and joined her for breakfast.

"Well… this ought to be interesting," said Fred, the three first years shared a look and then quickly got up to join James and Nancy at the Slytherin table, "Oi… wait up!"

**TO BE CONTINUED**

AND updated! Okay, next update is 11/22

Please RxR


End file.
